A Very Costly “Killed Series”

By John Pierron BJ57

The University of Missouri School of Journalism is celebrating its Centennial September 10-12, 2008, and has asked journalism graduates to provide books, news stories or anecdotes from their careers. Nearly all of the articles submitted are likely to be from broadcast or published news stories. This account, an “anecdote” by John Pierron (BJ 1957), is an exception. It is a summary of a television news series in Philadelphia more than 40 years ago that was killed by a New York lawyer, and what happened thereafter.

The subject of the series itself, and the reason it was killed, though unrelated to each other, are described in this “non-story”, the story that never got on the air. Fortunately, it triggered related stories that kept me on the case of the Philadelphia Boy Wonder Jerry Wolman.

Let me say at the outset the cancellation of the series soured me on the news business. It was not difficult for me to “resign” from it a few years later. At the same time, I never have lost my love for journalism itself.

I have written this “anecdote” on a journalism career mostly as a 2008 story to reflect the developments through the years and concluding with today’s news, some of which is anything but pretty.

The station I worked for was then known as KYW-TV, Philadelphia; the “name” was changed to CBS3 in recent years, and within the past year, the station has received far more than its share of notoriety due to the firing of both of the station’s top/star anchors. I bet that hasn’t happened in your town!

Alycia Lane and Larry Mendte were co-anchors at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. Monday through Friday on Channel 3, Philadelphia. Lane was discharged January 1 of this year, and Mendte was fired June 23. Unbelievable.

Alycia Lane was fired after getting her name in the gossip pages of Philadelphia and New York newspapers too often. The final straw came last December after she was arrested in New York City after Saturday midnight, charged with hitting a New York police officer in a bizarre car stop.

Her co-anchor, Larry Mendte, lost his job after the FBI started investigating allegations that, for about two years, he had snooped on the e-mails of Alycia Lane, and fed gossip about her to the media. Yep, he was spying on his co-anchor: more than 500 e-mails just this year since she was fired! Hundreds more in the two years prior. He was charged in mid-July with a felony: intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization to obtain information. He pleaded guilty in August. Sentencing is scheduled for November, 2008.

I’m not making this up. That’s the CBS3 infamously of today. It is not the kind of news you expect from the original Eyewitness News newsroom.

My anecdote from the 1960’s in some of its ramifications never made it into print. You are reading about it here for the first time, and be forewarned: it does not have the explosiveness of Alycia and Larry.

But it cost you and your friends and neighbors a lot more money, especially if you live in or near a “major league” city.

THE ANECDOTE:

One of the many things you learn at the University of Missouri School of Journalism is word usage. You are taught that the word “very” in nearly all instances is unnecessary, a kind of redundancy, at least in news stories. If you are tired, it says little if any more if you say you are “very” tired. If you are happy, you are happy. It does not say much more to say you are very happy. And so on. Those are quick illustrations describing word usages in a news story.

It is this Mizzou journalism graduate’s clear declaration that if something is VERY costly, it must be VERY extraordinary. Thus, this story about a VERY COSTLY series prepared in the 1960’s is very exceptional and very unique. The actual cost is incalculable. We will just have to agree we are talking megabucks.

Said another way: the result of the cancellation of the series by a New York lawyer cost the taxpayers of the United States many millions of dollars.

The reason the series was spiked was not revealed (to this reporter) until 15 months later. It was bizarre. I will explain that later.

The events described below started in 1963. Jerry Wolman, a Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, one-time grocer, bought the Philadelphia Eagles for $5,505,000. At age 37, he was the youngest owner in the National Football League. In Philadelphia, he soon was known as “The Boy Wonder” as he also was expanding his vistas in the field of construction. He was a fun guy to meet and know, and he was very popular in his new city.

In the mid-1960’s, he was in partnership with co-owners Ed Snider, Bill Putnam and Joe Scott as they put together plans for a franchise in the National Hockey League, which became the Philadelphia Flyers. The team needed an arena to play in. Philadelphia had nothing.

Jerry Wolman proposed building a hockey arena in South Philadelphia. Working with Philadelphia City Council and Mayor James H. J. Tate, he proposed spending $8 million to build it. Key to the plan was to build on city-owned land. Yes, the City was allowing Wolman to build a private facility on city land. So terms had to be arranged. City Council bragged that the Boy Wonder was using his own money to build the arena! The taxpayers can avoid the obligation!! Isn’t that wonderful? That became the typical City Council answer when there was any question about the arena deal.

City administration financial people, working with Wolman and lawyers, put together a 50-year lease that was the sweetest sweetheart Wolman could have hoped for. The cost was $15,000 per year, or $1,250 monthly for 50 years. In addition, he was given a high share of the parking fees on the basis that he needed guaranteed income to pay for his lease. But Wolman had to pay no real estate taxes. You would have to be crazy to think it was not a great deal for Wolman. No real estate taxes. Most of the parking revenues. And a lease he probably could pay off annually with profits from one rock concert each year.

This (City Hall) reporter sought to question all the sweetness. One of my first stops was to see Harry Ferleger, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Civic Center. As they say, FULL DISCLOSURE: in the 1970’s, for eight years I was the Civic Center’s Executive Director after Harry Ferleger. How I got there indirectly stems from this anecdote caper but is not parcel to this story.

Harry Ferleger was glad to see me. He said he had to be careful with what he said, but Mayor Tate knew of his opinions and concerns, and he was authorized if not encouraged to speak more or less as a concerned city official. He told me he had reviewed the arena planning (this was before the facility got the name “Spectrum”). What it revealed was that, thanks to City Council, the taxpayers were on the eve of giving Jerry Wolman a license to print money. He knew the Civic Center would lose the Philadelphia 76ers as a tenant, and that was OK, he thought. But he pointed out that basketball revenues that had been coming into the city coffers for many years would now be going to Wolman. The future of the arena business was to be rock and other concerts, and Wolman would be getting that (moolah), too. Not the Civic Center and the city’s tax coffers.

Also, he said, the Ice Follies and Ice Capades and the circus road shows surely would want to move to the larger, new arena. Should the city’s taxpayers underwrite this, seeing these revenues go elsewhere? It was more money destined for Wolman’s deepening pockets.

Subsequently, Harry Ferleger stood outside Convention Hall (part of the Civic Center complex) and spoke to me in a fairly lengthy filmed TV news interview, which became the main theme of the five-part series I wrote and edited. He would not tell me on film what he had offered in his office: the City Council hearing on the arena lease, which took a mere one hour in Council chambers (without public hearing for taxpayers), was a sham, a joke. City Council did not call him for testimony (Ferleger thought it was on purpose), and the comments offered by the learned Council members were either extremely naive (unlikely) or wink-wink let’s-get-this-done-in-a-hurry.

Of course, he couldn’t describe the Council hearing for what it was if he wanted to keep his job.

Working with our News Director Al Primo, we prepared five scripts, complete with film for each night’s series segment. The series declared that City Council had given Wolman a “lucrative” lease for the new arena. I said this in the first sentence of my copy.

Said in brief, the key to the whole issue was the mathematics. Rock shows had just started to become popular, and Harry Ferleger wanted to see the City and its taxpayers get the revenues to be achieved, not Jerry Wolman.

Al Primo told our station General Manager, Fred E. Walker, we had a hot series ready for air. Fred was totally in support of the series, but thought the word “lucrative” could get us sued. He arranged for the three of us to go the offices (a few blocks away) of Dechert Price & Rhoads, the station’s legal counsel. The head of the law firm of more than 200 lawyers and the firm’s chief Vice President in charge of financial law greeted us, and we sat down to discuss what we had. I was told to read out loud each of the five reports. Where there was a sound-on-film interview, they accepted my ad lib comments as to what the spokesman said. The key concern was that word “lucrative”.

The financial officer said it was his opinion that the overwhelming evidence of both the mathematics of the bookings and the obviously sweet “lucrative” lease clearly demonstated the series represented “fair comment and criticism” under the laws of libel.

He said the series did not even hint of libel and needed to be broadcast to the people of Philadelphia. I sat there, shall we say, very, very happy and I am pleased to say Fred Walker and Al Primo walked back with me to the station similarly elated. We knew we had a big story.

A few days later, we were on the eve of station promotionals to “plug” the series when Al called me into his office.

“We have to go back to Dechert Price and Rhoads,” he said. He said Fred Walker had received a call from the Group W (station owner) corporate office in New York, which was sending a lawyer to Philadelphia to review the series. The reason?? Al Primo had no clue, nor, I later found out, did Fred Walker, although he apparently had phoned New York, the Group W corporate office, to crow a bit about how we had a story that should stop City Council from a major taxpayers gift to the Boy Wonder.

Nevertheless the series was “on hold” and of course so were the news promotions.

In a day or so, back we were in that same law firm conference room, and this time a (six feet four inches tall) unfriendly, unsmiling Group W lawyer walked in, shook hands all around. He asked that I read the series as I had a few days before.

You had to be there. It was most bizarre. As soon as I started and passed the word “lucrative”, the New Yorker shook his head, but did not interrupt. Everybody froze, though. I saw that. As I continued, the head-shaking continued at periodic points, and I could see the financial officer trying to get a facial read from his law partner, the head of the firm.

When I finished, the New York lawyer quickly declared that the series was generally faulty and probably libelous, and it could not be aired. The Philadelphia lawyers wanted better clarifications, but the New Yorker was abrupt and offputting, and before we realized it, he was getting up with his briefcase and heading for the door. Decision made.

After the New Yorker left to return to the Big Apple, the financial officer felt compelled to tell us he thought the New York lawyer was crazy.

The three of us from the station walked back in a daze, trying to figure it all out. We could come up with no explanation. We all felt we were had, for some reason.

Turns out, we were. And so were the taxpayers of Philadelphia, and subsequently the taxpayers in cities and towns all over the United States.

This year, I contacted Fred Walker and Al Primo for comments about the 1960’s arena series. FULL DISCLOSURE AGAIN: Earlier this summer, neither could remember the series and the trips to Dechert, Price and Rhoads. I did not understand this but I accepted it, of course. (In early September, after reading a copy of this anecdote, Al Primo sent an e-mail saying that now he did, in fact, recall the saga. For a while, the writer here was questioning the writer’s own level of senility.)

After the series kill, our “non-story” got around. The whisper campaign assured that the rumor was spread: Channel 3 killed a series that basically said the arena deal was a colossal nightmare and probably precedent-setting. I know I told one particular influential figure who did not keep the story quiet. But it never went public until the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on the lease, and yes, described it with that very word: “lucrative”.

Ironically, this was in connection with my Jerry Wolman scoop.

While the arena was under construction (it opened in the Fall of 1967) or soon thereafter, Jerry Wolman suffered a devastating setback on his major construction project in Chicago, the 100-story skyscraper John Hancock Building. He was prime contractor. The ground sank at the site. It cost him $20 million and started him on the road to bankruptcy.

I found this out, and told the News Director. However, I had just one source, and this source only could speculate that it would have negative implications for the Eagles, the arena and the new hockey team . And the News Director was scared. He feared we would be sued for libel, and KYW-TV would end up paying for the John Hancock Building. I realized the vulnerability, of course. And besides, Jerry Wolman already had reached icon status with his Philadelphia Eagles and it was impossible to know how deep his financial troubles extended.

It took nine months to get my scoop on the air. And I still was first with the story.

I had kept in touch with the Jerry Wolman news in the intervening months, so my source tipped me that Wolman, a Jewish man, was about to do the seemingly unthinkable: he was heading to Kuwait to seek a 43-million-dollar loan. From Arabs!!!! My story did not need to include this tidbit, and didn’t. It was blockbuster without the Mideast problem needlessly overshadowing it.

Because our newsroom knew all about Jerry Wolman’s problems for months, it no longer was a belabored decision to LEAD with the story on the 11 p.m. newscast one Friday night. I know Vince Leonard, newscaster, enjoyed the thrill of delivering the opening line, saying that Philadelphia Eagles owner Jerry Wolman is “on his way” TO TRY TO SAVE HIS FINANCIAL EMPIRE. Then he turned it over to me and I was able to give the total story “live” on camera in by then typical Eyewitness News coverage. In those days Channel 3 news was way ahead of the opposition and enjoyed a much larger audience and therefore higher ratings.

The Wolman story really had come out of the blue, so to speak, as far as the public was concerned. Shortly after I finished, I had a phone call from a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter (City Hall guy the same as I) who desperately wanted help on matching the story. He said his editor was screaming at him for not having it, as though it was some halls-of-City Hall story. I told him it took me nine months to get to tonight, and while I understood his comments, he should not be the least bit ashamed at being scooped, as it was a very long and sometimes frustrating saga. However he did it, he put together a fairly accurate front-page story in the Sunday Inquirer.

This reporter, Don McDonough, in writing follow-up stories years later, having heard my sad tale about the killing of the series, used that word “lucrative” (in print) in including reference to the arena lease more than once.

In November, 1967, with the new arena just opening, Wolman called a news conference to confirm that he was in a financial squeeze. He blamed a tight money market. That never was my understanding.

Now that Jerry Wolman no longer was hands-off insofar as any negative publicity was concerned, the arena lease came in for public review. A lawsuit was filed in United States District Court in effect contending that the taxpayers of Philadelphia had been defrauded. In 1971, U. S. District Judge A. Leon Higginbotham ruled. It might have been one of the first “modern” examples of a judge legislating from the bench. The basic charge was that the Spectrum paid no real estate taxes. But the Judge ruled the arena was situated on city ground that was used for a “public” purpose. Therefore, the City Council lease was legal and proper. The sins were in the terms of the lease.

Some lawyers considered the ruling a stretch. Nonetheless the federal court declared in loud language that a private entity, frankly, could receive sweetheart deals in the creation of public assembly facilities. It really started the ball rolling.

For much of the past 40 years, since Jerry Wolman, taxpayers have opened up their wallets to pay bills for wealthy sports team owners. Philadelphia was first, and Judge Higginbotham served as the legal enabler in a stretch of what public purpose should accrue to the pockets of a private citizen (i.e., Jerry Wolman). People defending Wolman back there in the 1960’s pointed out that Wolman’s own $8 million would pay for the arena. But remember he did not have to pay for the land (valued at perhaps $6 million) and he got that lucrative lease. That word has been a buzz word ever since, especially by those opposing taxpayer financing of public assembly facilities and sports franchises. Example: in a New York Times article on the subject published July 27, 1996, writer Leslie Wayne wrote:

EVEN AS MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR SPORTS PALACES ARE BEING PROPOSED FOR ASSORTED BEARS, BENGALS, HAWKS, VIKINGS AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL TEAMS, A LOT OF PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON WOULD LIKE TO CLAMP DOWN ON LUCRATIVE PUBLIC SUBSIDIES THAT THEY CONTEND DO MUCH MORE TO HELP ALREADY-WEALTHY PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM OWNERS THAN THE COMMUNITIES THAT SUPPORT THE TEAMS.

The article said the controversy over stadium financing dated back to the 1986 Federal Tax Reform Act, which was thought to have eliminated the public subsidies by forcing team owners to finance stadiums with taxable, rather than tax-free, dollars. The effort, however, backfired.

The National Taxpayers Union has written extensively about the “spending spree”. It said that although a casual observer might believe the flood of tax dollars poured into new stadiums sprang from some public mandate, appearances are deceiving. When asked, taxpayers generally oppose spending tax dollars to build stadiums. This margin of disapproval probably would be even higher were it not for extreme pressure from public figures, and the media-fueled belief that bad publicity associated with losing a sports franchise will harm their city’s image.

The Taxpayers Union declares that those who favor stadium subsidies cite a variety of economic and emotional arguments to influence taxpayers. Many of these are disingenuous or are based on inadequate data and the misinterpretation of economic principles. It is safe to say that regardless of what stadium backers claim, taxpayers are not getting the most for their money. So said the taxpayers union.

So the upshot in 1967: Jerry Wolman no longer could afford his first love, the Philadelphia Eagles. I made a half-dozen trips to United States District Court in Baltimore to attend the hearings of the Bankruptcy Referee (starting in April, 1968) that climaxed with Wolman being forced to sell the team to Leonard Tose for $16.1 million, at the time a record price for a professional sports team.

I interviewed both of them (TV sound-on-film) together on the federal courthouse steps a half-hour after the Referee issued his peculiar ruling.

This is perhaps the only somewhat amusing aspect of this whole story, although Jerry Wolman would not agree. What the Referee did that day when Leonard Tose was introduced to the Philadelphia TV audience (yes, we were the only station covering the hearing, so it was an easy exclusive) was presented in the form of a suggestion from the bench.

The Referee said he would approve Wolman retaining the Eagles if Tose would agree to loan him the money which he (Tose) would borrow from the huge First Pennsylvania Bank. I could tell Tose did not like it, but he was powerless to say so in my interview. He came across as Wolman’s best buddy, although Leonard Tose wanted the Eagles late that afternoon as much as Wolman wanted to keep them.

The next morning, I got a call from John Bunting, Chairman and President of First Pennsylvania Bank. He had watched my interview the prior evening and asked me to clarify what I had reported for his legal and financial officers. Imagine that! John Bunting’s office was just a two-block walk from the station and I got there at 10:30 a.m. There were eight people in the room (sorry, ladies, this was the 1960’s; they were all men).

John Bunting started: “Now, John, we appreciate your coming over here to explain your story. I think I heard you clearly, but some of these men didn’t have you on. What you said is that the Federal Referee suggested that we should loan the money to Tose (he paused, I nodded) and he will loan it to Wolman???”

Right. The bankers all shook their heads not unlike that New York lawyer.

Right there, I had my last Jerry Wolman story. He would lose the Eagles.

Some days later, I saw him and asked him about the reporting on his financial difficulties. When he returned from the Middle East without that loan, was he told who reported on his threatened bankruptcy? He said he knew I was the reporter. What I wanted him to know, though: it took me nine months to get the story on the air!

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, with his usual big and winning smile. I was dumbfounded. Why? I asked. And I still don’t know exactly how to understand his answer, no financial wizard I. He said: “You would have saved me alotta money if you reported it when you first knew it.”

Jerry Wolman never got to enjoy his arena. Because he could not afford it, the arena had to be operated under the protection of federal bankruptcy court. Ed Snider, who had been a Vice President of the Eagles and Wolman’s partner, took over the operation of both the arena and the Flyers.

Suffice it to say that Snider became a super mogul and a very, very (emphasis intentional, and School of Journalism guidelines roundly considered) wealthy man. The newly-named Spectrum made great history for Philadelphia sports and entertainment over the years. Snider got all the plums that Jerry Wolman might have enjoyed if that Chicago ground was not so squishy.

A key reason Snider escaped greater scrutiny over the lucrative lease was quick in coming after the Spectrum opened. At a matinee of the Ice Capades in February, 1968 (four months after the opening), as spectators waiting for the show to start watched in amazement, high winds ripped away a 50-by-100 foot section of the Spectrum roof and sent it crashing to the ground outside. This added to the overall arena financial woes, and Snider quickly became a sympathetic figure, shrouding the friendly lease terms.

More than 20 years ago, the Philadelphia Inquirer provided keen perspective into Edward Malcolm Snider.

“I had decided to bring a National Hockey League franchise into Philadelphia”, Snider said. “And to do that, the Spectrum had to be built. We would build the arena with private funds, and the city would get extra revenue without spending a dime. Everyone thought it was a fabulous deal at the time.”

Not everyone, Ed.

“So we started the construction, and Wolman and I ended our partnership. I got the Flyers, he got the Spectrum. When the Spectrum went bankrupt, I stepped in and paid off the debts 100 cents on the dollar.”

In that same era, the President of the Philadelphia Phillies at the time, William Y. Giles, said: “Ed Snider has to rank as one of the most successful and imaginative sports entrepreneurs ever. With the exception of the O’Malley family and the Dodgers, I cannot think of anyone else who has made a lot of money on a sports franchise. Most people make their money somewhere else, then buy a team.”

Another stretch.

In “Ballpark Boondoggle”, a summary of the public funding of arenas and stadiums by the National Taxpayer Union, the largesse given to sports franchise owners is described at length. The article points out that not all businesses can get away with what sports franchises do. If Wal-Mart and Home Depot depended on taxpayer subsidies to meet payroll, they would not be in existence very long. Taxpayers would rebel at this type of corporate welfare and Wall Street would devalue the company’s stock.

“Professional sports franchises are different,” says the National Taxpayer Union. “Because they are closely identified with the cities where they play and are frequently mentioned in the media, sports teams hold a special place in the fabric of many American cities.”

The origin of largesse for the owners and operators of sports and public assembly facilities clearly originated in the City Council of Philadelphia in the mid 1960’s.

City Council did not want Harry Ferleger to testify. The impact of this has been multiplied into millions and millions of taxpayer dollars. City and other public financial people (at the state and federal levels) do not want to conduct serious and accurate analyses of how much public money has been wasted (funneled into the deep pockets of wealthy sports franchise owners) due to the tremendous public relations and taxpayer backlash that would occur.

The taxpayers are left with having a good (or bad) cry.

Actually, the Spectrum will not be able to fulfill all of its obligations over 50 years, the lease term. This year, it was announced that the now-named Wachovia Spectrum, “the city’s oldest major professional sports venue”, will be demolished next spring to make way for a proposed hotel, retail and entertainment complex.

“This has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” Snider said. “The Spectrum is my baby.”

Need we mention that the new project, known as “Philly Live!”, will be built on city-owned land?

So, what was that New York lawyer up to? Why was the Eyewitness News arena series killed, and killed so abruptly, without even the suggestion of a re-write, perhaps?

Fifteen months after the lawyer went back to Group W headquarters in New York, I came to work one morning and was told that “MacDonald” wanted to see me.

MacDonald was Kenneth T. MacDonald, KYW-TV Vice President and General Manager, who had replaced Fred Walker.

The newsroom was abuzz about why Pierron, a reporter, was being called into the big (and new) boss’ office. Most unusual.

I went from the Eyewitness News newsroom on the second floor to the executive offices on the third floor, somewhat fearful, but telling myself that I soon would know the why.

He obviously knew his summons was unusual. “Come in, John. No problem!!” he assured me.

He explained that the station, the previous evening, had hosted its annual sales staff – clients’ cocktail party. Advertising and broadcast executives from New York and Washington came to Philadelphia to rub elbows and mutually thank each other for the high Channel 3 ratings.

I do not remember whom MacDonald referenced. He did identify the fellow from the Group W offices in New York.

“John, he asked me: WHAT EVER BECAME OF THAT REPORTER WHO HAD YOUR ARENA SERIES?” said Ken MacDonald.

He was unfamiliar with the whole saga, and wanted me to add the final details.

What Kenneth T. MacDonald told me, though, rather turned my stomach.

He asked the New York broadcast executive to explain. Remember this was at the annual Channel 3 sales department cocktail party.

The New Yorker said that it more or less had been an amusing story around the Group W headquarters that the lawyer had been instructed to go down to Philadelphia, and kill the series, whatever the hell it was. He was told not to bother to come back to New York if he didn’t.

Ken MacDonald was all ears. (And it was nice of him to think I should know about it, more than a year later.)

The New Yorker said there were five executives at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Pittsburgh who were working confidentially to combine to buy the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Pittsburgh men were acting as private citizens, and knew Jerry Wolman was having money troubles. The team could not be purchased by a corporation, but some of its officers could do so on their own.

The Jerry Wolman financial situation presumably was a known quantity in both New York and Pittsburgh. Looking back, this was not difficult to believe, as former Philadelphia Mayor Richardson Dilworth was representing Wolman in seeking big loans from New York banks (which they did not obtain).

MacDonald said the Pittsburgh executives feared that any news series about Jerry Wolman would spoil their secret efforts to own an NFL franchise.

Said bluntly: electric company executives engaged in private activity for their own personal gain had tampered with a news story in the company’s broadcast division.

My bosses obviously wanted to keep their jobs, so the sequel to the series also went unreported. Until now.

On Getting Prostate Cancer and Liver Cancer, Too

It is mid-July, 2007. I figure I’d better write about this now so I do not forget what happened. On the other hand, how could I ever forget what is happening every day!

Earlier this year, at winter’s end, I got a call from my urologist of 25 years.

UROLOGICAL ASSOCIATES, PC Jay J. Handler, M. D., F. A. C. S., Urology and Urologic Surgery located in the Calvanese Building Suite 2D 2137 Welsh Road Philadelphia, PA 19115 phone 215-698-7333 (fax 215-673-9492).

“I have your test results back. They are not normal,” he said.

He told me I have prostate cancer, something that affects one in six men. It is fatal for one man in every 34 with the disease.

My urologist said the PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) readings were borderline, but he was especially concerned because they had doubled in the past year. He scheduled an in-office visit. In his office, he told me the conclusion was unmistakable: I needed a program to get rid of the cancer.

He said he wanted me to attend a meeting involving other men also recently diagnosed with cancer of the prostate. I did. During the meeting, I asked the oncologist “how fast does the cancer grow”. The reply: “very slowly”. But the key is to attack it at your earliest time.

MNAP Oncology Center Department of Radiation Oncology Steven J. DiBiase,M. D. 9908 East Roosevelt Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19115 www.mnaponcology.com phone 215-673-9260 fax 215-673-9254.

At that meeting, it seemed to me that the suggestion of side effects from the radiation centered on NOT TO WORRY about them. Some men have problems during the treatments, many do not. That may well be true, but not in my case. If I have any criticism of the program, it is that the full measure of possible side effects was not conveyed.

I started the radiation treatments May 29th, the day after Memorial Day. This was about two months after that meeting in the urologist’s office.

I was given the appointment time of 9:20 a.m. each day. I was to be scheduled between a breast cancer patient and another man. The daily nods of “Hello” soon became routine, but I must admit my friendly demeanor, if perceived, was orchestrated.

This is because after a week of treatments, the side effects started. Pain during urination. Frequency of urination. Dizziness. Nausea. Exhaustion. Loss of appetite.

I was told the pain during urination could be controlled. After my experience these past six weeks, I need to tell you there has been, at least in my case, almost no control of the pain.

It has been vicious. And ongoing. Every 10 to 15 minutes. And more often than that. Urgency to go. And then, just a trickle, but terrible pain.

I told the doctor of the pain. I told him I usually could not make it to the bathroom before I started going. By the time I got to the toilet, the only thing left was the excruciating pain of the last trickle. He gave me a prescription (Phenazopyridine) designed to increase the flow, and he also gave me a prescription for Flomax, the recently-heavily-advertised pill for those with a “going problem”.

Still, pain.

I asked the second doctor (on duty that day) if there was any other relief. She said another possible remedy would be ibuprofen along with the Phenazopyridine and Flomax. This could be in the form of Advil or Motrin. I bought both. So, in addition to the two prescriptions, I was now taking ibuprofen. At first I was taking 600 mg four times a day. Doctor Number One at the oncology center a week later suggested I cut down from three capsules four times a day to two. This is because I also take Plavix, a well-known prescription for heart patients. However, so long as your urine and stool do not become bloody, the Plavix may continue. That’s the way it is with me, with the Plavix continuing to protect my heart and blood lines.

It should be noted here that ibuprofen is NOT recommended if your kidneys are not working well. I only can conclude that the oncology doctor was not aware that my kidneys were starting to emerge as new problems amidst everything else. (See below for more on this.)

Through these weeks, the pain continued. A urinalysis was ordered, and my family doctor also tested me.

Family Doctor: Frankford Avenue Family Practice, P. C. 8846 Frankford Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19136 215-332-8221 fax 215-332-2979 Paul H. Miller, D. O.

Earlier this week, my family doctor (Dr. Miller) said I have developed a kidney disease of some sort, and I will need to get an ultrasound (next Thursday), and see a specialist, a nephrologist, a week or two later in July. A nephrologist is a physician who has been educated and trained in kidney diseases, kidney transplantation and dialysis therapy.

Before you draw any conclusions, I need to explain: all four doctors are top-notch. They all attended college classes the days the professors discussed bedside manner. They learned well. They are good.

And I was told that most men do not encounter the side effects that have hit me. (One evening, in my office, I threw up so much and so long, I would have to say it was the home run of vomits in my life.)

I am sorry for the graphic descriptions here but I need to be totally forthcoming for you. Prostate cancer is curable, and has a high success rate. But it is not an easy road. I have heard about patients getting chemotherapy who have suffered far more than I. Just today, in the Philadelphia Daily News, there was an item about Gary Papa, sportscaster for Channel 6 here in Philadelphia. His prostate cancer has returned. He thought he had licked it more than two years ago. He now has another fight on his hands. I do not know what stage of prostate cancer he had three years ago. But according to the Daily News item, “an emotional Gary Papa announced” during yesterday’s 6 p.m. newscast that he is undergoing a second round of chemotherapy. I believe chemo is used most often when the radiation clock already is at midnight.

As of this day, Saturday, July 14, I have had 31 radiation treatments. The usual series is 39 or 40. Before I started, I was asked to add four more for purposes of a survey. Total 44. I agreed. Last week, I asked out of the final four, but the doctor urged me to hang in there. So far, I still have 13 to go, not nine. Despite the pain, I suppose I will try to hang in there.

I should point out what you probably already have concluded: my experience may be unique, and very well may be unusual among the many patients at my oncology center. However, I think I know why the doctors did not “announce” at that original session with more than a half-dozen men that the side effects are brutal. If they described the pain, the urgency and so on, probably they would see some of their patients seek another opinion. I want to hasten to add that I do not criticize the doctors because nobody at that original session asked, in effect, how bad can it get?

In between the urgencies, I am OK but always exhausted. I am writing this on a Saturday evening when I have had to stop periodically to run to the bathroom. And most of the time today, it has been very painful when I urinate. Oh, and I forgot to mention the diarrhea: yeah, I get that, too. Sometimes it consumes my morning. And maybe most embarrassing of all of it: I am wearing diapers on the basis of a recommendation from the woman doctor at the oncology center. But it helps. Before diapers, I was soiling five and six underwear jockeys each day.

I cannot walk from my car into my house without becoming out of breath. I hardly can walk from my office to the bank, less than a block away.

The woman doctor at the oncology center suggested I contact my family doctor to check whether I should continue to take the ibuprofen since a kidney disease was suggested by the one urinalysis. My family doctor said the ibuprofen does adversely attack the kidneys; he suggested Tylenol. No offense to Tylenol, but the pain came back today stronger than during the past week.

But I trust my family doctor and will stay with the Tylenol. Maybe its good days are ahead of me.

If you are diagnosed with prostate cancer, prepare to fight it as you would any anomaly. The doctors deal with the several treatments and patient care on a daily basis. You should not shy away from the necessity of treatment.

Maybe my comments above will help you to ask more direct questions about the side effects of radiation. My business partner’s husband was treated earlier this year at the same treatment center as I. He finished his 40th treatment May 1. Yet, in mid-June, he still had some of the agonies described above. So radiation lingers.

I never sought a “second opinion” partly because of the experiences of my partner’s husband. We both have the same urologist, who impresses me as no less than an expert in his field. A nice guy, too. And, as noted above, all four doctors treating me are superb. And nice people. Bedside manner, so to speak, is needed for those patients undergoing chemo and/or radiation.

Since reading about Gary Papa, another nice guy, I have been preoccupied thinking about the recurrence of prostate cancer. Gary first disclosed his cancer in May, 2004, actually. So his came back and the article did not explain why.

Thus, despite an apparent high success cure rate, chemo or radiation may not be enough. It demonstrates the need for men to be tested at least once a year, if not more. My “not normal” readings were part of a four-times-a-year blood test in the office of my family doctor. As apparently happens in most cases, once you are known to have prostate cancer, your friends are quick to give you reassurances, based on other cases with which they are familiar.

Earlier in these remarks, I mentioned that the treatments started about two months after my urologist reported the findings. The two-month period apparently is inevitable, due to the several steps that must be taken prior to radiation. Of course, it had been a biopsy which revealed the cancer. That was first after the blood test. And while nobody said so, and I didn’t ask, apparently it takes a while just to prepare the paper work involving a patient’s hospitalization plan. But as far as I could tell, this did not “delay” treatment.

An early procedure, with advance preparations similar to a biopsy (fasting, etc.) was to insert three “markers” on my lower stomach. These markers are not visible to the naked eye, but are evident on a machine. Each treatment requires the drinking of 1 1/2 cups of water just before the treatment. This serves to lift the prostate into better position for radiation.

There are three treatments (i.e., three patients) each hour, 20 minutes apart, at my oncology center. The actual radiation procedure takes about 12 minutes for one person, and only starts when the technicians are satisfied they have lined up the radiation machinery according to those three markers. This assures them that the radiation is going directly to the prostate gland, regardless of its position, which changes from day to day.

And about those technicians. They do a great job. The crew for each patient almost always involves two women, sometimes three. They even have to place my legs in a cast, which was created prior to the radiation treatment program. There are scores of those casts on the shelves of the radiation room. A lot of men are under treatment for prostate cancer. Likewise, the women patients who are battling breast cancer go through essentially the same procedures. The women technicians are friendly where the situation desperately calls for “friendly”. The same goes for the rest of the small staff, including three women at the front desk (at least two are nurses who once a week take my blood pressure, weigh me and ask me howzit goin’ now, and so on; let’s call one of them Heidi, who is warmly friendly each day and who has her own pleasing bedside manner, so to speak). The others are professionals, too. And the young woman in the “Interview Room” (she does the leg casts) gives you a heartwarming smile every time she walks by. Where is she going all the time?

Anyhow, now, I am about to head into my last 13 treatments. I know it will continue to be a struggle; I more or less figure I will continue to go through the agony until weeks after the treatments end August 1. But let me hasten to add: I have thought not infrequently about the alternative. What if there were no treatment? Many patients die of cancer yearly because the cancer maybe was diagnosed too late to avoid its becoming an eventual killer. So while I am concerned about the remaining treatments, and the aftermath, which may not ebb until mid-September, I am even more concerned for Gary Papa.

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After the above summary was posted, there was a visit three days later (Tuesday, July 17th) with the oncologist doctor right after Radiation Treatment 33.

I told the doctor I was spent in more ways than one. He replied that he thought I was depressed. Inasmuch as I rarely become depressed, I told him it could not be depression: it was the hot poker pain and the other maladies described in the summary above. I suggested that he READ it to understand my dilemma better. He said he preferred just to continue with the interview. I know he’s busy, but I rather think he was not fully grasping the severity of my many discomforts.

At some point on this day (Tuesday, July 17th) or before, the doctor had suggested I might be suffering from a urinary tract infection.

In any case, the next day (Wednesday), I received Treatment Number 34, after which the doctor met with me again (normally, he meets with each patient once a week). Heidi took my blood pressure and reported it to the oncologist. It was 88 over 50. It demonstrated I was in poor shape with low blood pressure.

The doctor suggested that I was dehydrated and needed to go for hydration somewhere.
The conclusion was to go to the Emergency Room at Frankford-Torresdale Hospital, about seven minutes’ drive, “for an hour or two”, the oncologist speculated. He asked whether I was able to drive myself. I replied that I could drive throughout the radiation period, despite fatigue and shortness of breath, if I took a few minutes to recover. So I got in my car just minutes before Heidi would have been calling for an ambulance. Getting to Frankford-Torresdale was not a problem, and the ER was just as the doctor had suggested: few patients waiting at that time, about 10:20 a.m., unlike the scene most nights, when you may not get “seen” for hours, due to the many people ahead of you (if you are not an emergency-emergency case, which would mean you would be taken much sooner).

Thus, last Wednesday (July 18th), I started what turned into an eight-day hospital stay.
Within minutes, I was being interviewed by Nurse Linda Nowak, who also doubled as my ER nurse. She was the first of a zillion top-shelf nurses to treat me both in the ER and in the Telemetry Unit and thirdly in one of the regular wards. I was placed in the Telemetry Unit Wednesday night due to my heart attack two years ago when I spent three days at the same hospital. In the ER I had been put on a heart monitor. By the way, they are “wireless”. Pretty snazzy.

When I was in what became my ER room for about 10 hours, Linda Nowak told a male nurse “UTI” was suspected. UTI is hospital lingo for Urinary Tract Infection.

The doctors and nurses in the ER had plenty to do and having been there in the past, I know the activity often is big time hectic. However, the hospital personnel proceed with high professionalism, and take pains to make sure they get my medical history and names of my doctors. As noted in the summary above, I had quite a bit to report. Soon after arrival, the male nurse inserted a “line” for IV and I was told I would be getting “fluid” that would hydrate me.

But as for the pain during and after urination, I was told it was likely I had an infection in the urinary tract which in large measure was the main culprit for the pain.

After I was in the Telemetry Unit, doctors and nurses combined to diagnose the ills and try to alleviate my situations. Included were the periodic runs to the bathroom to urinate. I made it on time about half the time. Because of the urgencies described above, in no time I was spreading the “orange” on the bed sheets, all over the floor and on and near the toilet, the orange being the result of the medication I was taking.

The easing of pain throughout my stay could not be sustained.

More often than not the nurses changed day to day. “Mari Pat” and her Nurse’s Aide, Terry, were on duty two days in a row last Thursday/Friday. But the schedule changes, and this is highly significant, did not result in any reduction in the level of care or caregiver knowledge.

As you would see on another summary on this site, I do not regard lawyers as the Number One saviors of our society. I recognize some of them perform outstanding service, but we have far too many of them in this country (read “LAWYERS ARE RUINING OUR SOCIETY”) and far too many of them literally or figuratively chase too many ambulances.

It may be that the Oath of Lawyers says to first do harm, as they often do. (Some judges and the judicial system also aren’t squeaky clean; we need also to remember that.)

You would think that doctors are the scourge of lawyers, and of course some physicians seem not to operate by the Hippocratic Oath (irrespective of which Oath form you consider). The original, it generally is concluded, goes back to good ole Hippocrates, the father of medicine in the fourth century BC.

The doctors I have encountered over the years for the most part have been professional, hard-working and dedicated to my care.

I have not followed the medical procedures in recent years, but apparently my family doctor, your family doctor, cannot come into a hospital to see his/her patients. At Frankford Torresdale during the past week, I was seen by, I think, two hospital doctors and a half-dozen specialists.

My main doctor was a turban-attired Medical Doctor by the name of Bakhshish S. Sandhu. I had the feeling he had 1,000 patients there. He also has a private practice. He would visit me each morning; it was somewhat tornadic. But I mean that in a nice way. He was terse and at first I wasn’t prepared for his quick exit. He usually came into my room so early in the morning that I was still more than half-asleep as he spoke with me. What I realized soon enough is that I had to ask a question quickly, as he was so much on point, I almost wished I had a tape recording of his visits. Soon, however, I realized there was plenty going on in his brain at its own cyclonic speed. This was evident not only in his quick analyses and decisions but in what the nurses were able to tell me, and do. It was impressive.

It was the conclusion at ER the first evening, before transfer to my room, that I needed two “units” of blood. The transfusions (two pints, I suppose) took from midnight till 6:00 a.m. Thursday. My dizziness and shortness of breath abruptly stopped with the blood.

On Friday morning, a lab technician took 10, yes, 10 vials of blood from me. At first, I tried to joke with a nurse that the hospital was trying to get its blood back from the day before. Yeah, it wasn’t funny. Dr. Sandhu was throwing the book at my problems but with total focus.

During my stay, the various nurses were superbly efficient in following up on my complaints. It did not take long for me to realize that the Frankford Torresdale nurses are well educated and highly trained to perform under constant daily pressures. I was asked for my name and date of birth 1,643 times during the week. The checks on my identity probably could have been reduced to 1,521, but each caregiver is carecarecareful, and I am grateful they are such.

After the blood transfusions, an antibiotic (Levofloxacin) was administered daily via IV. This was to attack the UTI. Do I seem to be picking up the medical lingo??? They also ran a fluid IV at almost every available time period. Saline? Electrolytes? Looked like water.

Pain during urination and frequency and urgency continued throughout the week, but Doctor Sandhu et al attacked my problems. Through the blood tests, it was learned that maladies discovered by my family doctor became re-exposed in the hospital. A “mass” on my adrenal gland. A “nodule” on my liver. My family doctor also was concerned about my kidneys.

Monday night, still in the hospital, I encountered pain between near midnight and 3:00 a.m. Tuesday that exceeded all that I had endured since early June. If there was a chance of depression creeping in, it had to be early Tuesday. But it could be boiled down to the other activities involving me. There were times when the medications could not be administered when they would do their best. On Monday, I had a CatScan on my adrenal gland.

Late Monday night, I asked the nurse, Jaime, to give me medication for the pain. A bit later, she asked, on a scale of 1 to 10, how bad was the pain. During the six-week period, including pre-hospital, I often had answered 9 or 10. It had been that way for 10 or 15 seconds. Early Tuesday, my reply was “11″. It was the worst pain of all.

Within two hours, Jaime had me on the way to being pain free, at least until the next recurrence.

What I have come to discover is that each medication designed to handle the pain during urination, the urgency and the frequency must be administered at the right hour to be effective. And I suppose it is impossible for both nurse and patient to be forecasters who are timely and right every time.

And there are the interruptions, such as the CatScan. On Tuesday, I was given an MRI to look at my liver. That was the test that showed the “nodule”. Yesterday (Wednesday), I had a followup on the liver: a biopsy. Results to be available shortly.

Dr. Sandhu is comprehensive, thorough. He may be terse, but he is reporting the medical facts to scores of patients daily at Frankford Torresdale, he is getting alot done in a short time and he clearly is an asset to the hospital. You see such doctors on TV drama shows; I got to watch a “show” with even better examples of the service of the medical profession. They involved me! And I repeat: just about all of my up-close experiences with doctors this year have been favorable and impressive.

A hospital is a powerful place. What goes on there impresses me far more than the rich oak walls amidst the book cases and legal cases in a law firm. I guess some lawyers save people’s lives, in a matter of speaking. The people at a hospital save people’s lives, period.

In listing and thanking some of the people who worked so hard for me this past week, it always is a possibility that I will overlook someone, such as those two male nurses in the ER, and the doctor who explained at length what the blood transfusions would be, and why I had to have them. I don’t know the names of the men who pushed me around in my bed or wheelchair, or the fellow who pushed my wheelchair to the ER entrance last night so I could go home. I don’t remember the names of technicians in radiology. They have to be super efficient and accurate all day long. They were terrific.

And then, how about the nurses? They are so smart. Each patient has an RN (Registered Nurse) and a Nurse’s Aide. The nurses and their aides must be mini-lawyers in their own right, and investigative reporters. There was Rachael (yes, that’s the way it’s spelled) who took my blood pressure, my diabetic blood count, my temperature and my pulse rate. And the RN’s did the same things from time to time.

One day, my IV “line” had to be changed (after four days with the first line). My nurse on duty tried to find a vein twice. Tracey knows how to do it, but some days a patient’s blood lines go to Upper Darby. Or maybe I don’t have any veins??? Tracey sought help from Jess, Nurse Number Two, who tried an additional three times without success. I was a bit confused on her identity but I think “Lidia” was the third nurse to try. The third time’s a charm. Lidia found the lifeline. She should be a contestant on one of those TV shows where they ask for a lifeline. The “line” was used yesterday as part of the liver biopsy.

What I say about Rachael can be said about Terry, or Kim….and so on. Let me try to acknowledge professionals such as Lisa, Sheena, I mentioned Mari Pat (who seemed to have the Merck Manual in her brain, who told me plenty about a UTI), there was Tracey who was my RN three days’ straight, also Lidia (as noted above, I think she was third time’s a charm), Theresa Fitz who was my first night nurse, Alex, Janet, Jaime, and when they moved me out of Telemetry there were Peter and Nadia, and yesterday there was Maureen during the day and Jennifer after 3 p.m. Jennifer put up with me enough to arrange for my release from the hospital about 8:30 last night. And Jill. Nurse’s Aide. She is on the verge of passing the tests to be an RN. She worked 16 hours yesterday. She was a prime example of all of them who had to try to endure the urination spots I distributed all over the floor and in the bathroom. And all over my body. And on the bed sheets.

Both in the hospital and at home, my nights were continually disrupted by the problems noted above. I don’t know why but I seemed to pass the idle times overnight in idle singing of songs (just in my head). So, get a load of this for craziness: “Pop Goes The Weasel”, “Don’t Fence Me In”, “One” (from “A Chorus Line” LOL), “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head”, here’s one for your real oldies: “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” !!! Yes, I know: Bizarre !! And how about going to the Brown’s Hotel on the “Atcheson, Topeka and Sante Fe” (“all the way from Philadel-FIGH-A”) and the last one I can remember: “Three Blind Mice”. Amateur psychiatrists, have your field day on this!!!

Speaking of those almost hourly hospital messes, as I was above, there was Janet Deshields (I think that is her name), one of the three housekeepers who had to find the special solution that cleaned up the orange urine, orange due to the medication I was taking. One day, I half-joked a question to Janet: “How does it feel to have the toughest job in the entire hospital?”

What she was going through reminded me of one of the toughest jobs involved with my business: cleaning buses. It can be a demeaning job, disgusting, etc. You know what I mean. To make a bus presentable for the next trip, after the last group unfortunately had practically ruined its interior, the bus cleaner had to dig in with all the methods of trash cleaning. The hospital housekeeper has a daily similar challenge. In fact, Janet faces more trash in the course of a week than a bus cleaner.

After I asked the question, she replied, with a sort of “Thank you”, so to speak, “Nobody’s ever said that to me before!”

She takes pride in her work.

Janet is a hard hospital worker. A hospital is a building we treasure far more than a law office. (I should make clear that those in law offices spend not a small amount of time making life miserable for many in the medical profession. Some cases have justification; many are the result of ambulance chasing.)

Twelve hours after my arrival home from the hospital last night, I was back on the radiation table this morning. And Treatment Number 36 is coming up tomorrow.

And, oh yes, I have to check on that biopsy report, too.

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The next morning, Friday, July 27th, I was feeling dizzy one hour after wake-up. I headed for the Oncology treatment, and was given Number 36.

My blood pressure was 108 over 48. It was going lower again. The woman oncologist suggested that I contact my primary physician so he knows what is happening. I went to the Family Physician office and signed in (I had no appointment). Through a receptionist’s error, I had to wait more than an hour, but I sat in the waiting room allowing the dizziness to ebb.

My doctor listened to my story, and told me he had just spoken with Dr. Sandhu at Frankford Torresdale. My doctor said I needed to go right back to the ER there.

I was taken to Room 16 quickly and an IV was running shortly thereafter. I needed once again to be hydrated. During the afternoon, I also was taken for another chest X-ray of my lungs and heart. This is a good hospital.

After a five-hour stay, the ER doctor, Amy Witkin, told me I had to drink more fluids if I am to avoid the intense pain during urination. Yeah, I know that. I was avoiding the fluids to avoid the pain. But I was on a trip to nowhere good. If I don’t force the fluids, the dehydration and light-headedness return.

Dr. Witkin, who said she once worked at (the now-closed) Graduate Hospital in downtown Philadelphia, gave me a discharge sheet that summed up my situation. It noted that 55% of the human body is water. Here is some of the commentary:

The average healthy adult consumes about two quarts of water a day in the form of milk, juice, soda, etc. Each day, about one quart of water is lost in the urine. About one quart is lost through evaporation. If, for some reason, the amount of water consumed is less than the water lost, the total amount of water in the body will decrease.

This is called dehydration.

It can result from any disease that produces nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or simply a decreased appetite.

It concludes: Diseases that frequently result in dehydration include the common cold, the stomach flu, pneumonia and urinary tract infections.

HOLY BATMAN!! It almost sounded as though the ER doctor had read the above commentaries on this blog! Just kidding, of course. But I was reading about myself.

The statement from Frankford Torresdale also said the most common symptoms of dehydration are a “run down” feeling, a dry mouth, decreased urination and a dizzy feeling when standing up.

What are the risks? the statement asked. Dehydration usually gets better over one to two days and does not ordinarily produce any serious medical problems. There are, however, some risks: Very severe dehydration can damage the kidneys or produce a serious chemical imbalance in the blood, and occasionally dehydration is the result of a serious medical problem such as diabetes or blood poisoning.

The INSTRUCTIONS include the advisory that “as long as you do not have any heart or kidney disease, you should DRINK LOTS OF FLUIDS. Adults should drink at least two to three quarts a day. Avoid diet soda or caffeinated drinks such as coffee, tea or colas”.

The hospital statement also described at length all about dizziness.

The hospital says some of the more common causes include anxiety, hyperventilation, dehydration and minor viral infections. Then, some of the more SERIOUS causes of dizziness include severe dehydration, serious infections, stroke, irregular heart beats, blood clots in the lungs, dangerously low blood pressure or even a heart attack.

Sometimes, the hospital reports, careful examination reveals the cause of the dizziness, but often it does not. In a private office or emergency department, it may not be possible to find the exact cause of a particular episode of dizziness. As for symptoms, there also may be a false sense of motion, as if the room were spinning in circles. This is called “vertigo”, which could mean a loss of balance and occasionally nausea and/or vomiting.

Most cases of dizziness, says the hospital, get better within a few hours and cause no serious medical problems. However, there always is a small chance the dizziness may be an early sign of a potentially serious medical problem, such as a serious infection, blood clots or even a heart attack. Serious problems are more likely to occur in people who have had previous heart or lung problems, smoke, have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes, or are persons more than 50 years of age.

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An update on a Sunday afternoon in mid-August August 19, 2007 . . . . . . . . . .

The weekend of July 28-29 was unpleasant. There was more of the same: urgencies, then intense pain and often then: a trickle. Nausea. Dizziness. I had two instances of the dry heaves at home that Sunday. Nonetheless, I went in for Treatment Number 37. I know I wasn’t their favorite patient; I was arriving at the Oncology building daily without enthusiasm, even though it was refreshing to see Heidi give me a warm “Good Morning”. During this visit, I threw up in the doctor’s office (the exam room) and on another occasion. You want to know what happened, don’t you, or you wouldn’t have read this far.

Admittedly, it was very discouraging because I had spent a week in the hospital, had been treated for a urinary tract infection and still was feeling the same pain as ever. I didn’t know it that Monday, but some relief, ironically, was a day away, but in bizarre fashion.

During the day Monday, however, I had two more instances of throwing up.

Around midnight Monday (going into Tuesday, July 31), I started getting even more frequent pain, if that were possible. It was worse than any time in the prior two months. There simply was no letup despite my quick pacing in the bedroom.

At 2:00 a.m. I HAD to go to the ER. My wife drove me.

Even though the ER had only two other patients, and I was interviewed by the intake nurse almost immediately, I could not get into an ER bed for nearly two hours, during which the pain had eased.

One of the nurses was Linda, my friend from my first visit July 18th.

One of the doctors concluded the situation called for a catheter. I had had one for a short while after my October, 2004, heart attack, but I could not recall much about that experience. At 7:00 a.m. Tuesday, the catheter was inserted (you know where) and I was discharged from the ER at 7:45 a.m.

But after arriving home, the greater pain returned, and things seemed to be just as they were after midnight prior to the trip to the ER. Agony was thy name. We called the ER because we didn’t know what to do, and were told to either come back to the ER or see my family doctor.

Shortly thereafter, the catheter was getting bloody. We called 911. And the ambulance from the Philadelphia Fire Department “911″ arrived in six or seven minutes and took me back to the ER.

After further examination, I was given pain medication and advised that the catheter, in fact, was my best course to be able to urinate with less discomfort. And actually, that was true. It apparently was that the combination of further pain and blood scared me to Upper Darby.

At times during that second ER visit that day, I could not believe how bad the pain could get right there in the hospital!!!

In late morning, I asked a doctor (nice fellow) if it would be possible to find out about the biopsy report. I said it was supposed to be ready on Friday (July 27) and now it was four days after that. The doctor returned in a half-hour to say that the report was not finished and I could find out the results, when available, by contacting my family doctor.

I was discharged from the ER for the second time that day about 2:20 p.m. The conclusion: the catheter was properly in place, and it would ease the flow during urination, and eliminate the need for frantic dashes to the bathroom, only (often) arriving there 10 seconds too late.

It was decided to postpone radiation treatments until the next week. As it happened, I had three more, ending Wednesday, August 8th. The pain was too much to proceed further. My urologist had given me his home telephone number, which I called that Wednesday night. He agreed the treatments should be stopped at 40. Even after that, of course, I expected no sudden cure.

I continued to pace and pace to walk off the periodic pain. The catheter definitely reduced the times, so despite that call to 911, it proved to be an improvement. But it wasn’t taking care of all the instances. And amongst the new difficulties came the return of diarrhea.

I had an appointment Thursday (August 2) with my family doctor, one arranged in connection with the hospital discharge Wednesday, July 25. I told my doctor what had been going on, etc., and also mentioned, perhaps too casually, that I still did not have the biopsy results from eight days before. My doctor immediately left the exam room and called Frankford Torresdale. He returned and said he had just spoken with the radiologist who had been working on the liver biopsy. The “report” was not yet in written form but it was in shape to be conclusive.

There were cancer cells in my liver …. is how my family doctor advised me: I have liver cancer.

He arranged an appointment with the surgeon at Frankford Torresdale for 1:15 p.m. the next Tuesday (August 7).

(Dr.) Jeffrey Brodsky, M. D. Frankford Hospital-Torresdale Medical Office Building Suite 235 3998 Red Lion Road Philadelphia, PA 19114 phone 215-612-5630 fax 215-632-3544. Surgical Oncology General Surgery Laparosscopic Surgery. Frankford Hospitals Jefferson Health System (he also has an office in Langhorne, PA)

At that office visit, the surgeon explained what was ahead. He would need to remove 4.1 centimeters of a cancer mass from the smaller lobe of my liver.

I am to report to the hospital at 6 a.m. tomorrow (meaning Monday, August 20). The operation is expected to take two to three hours, I may need a blood transfusion in the midst of it and I likely will be hospitalized three to five days.

I haven’t seen a day since early June when I wasn’t pacing back and forth, seeking to ease the pain.

Dr. Brodsky, my life is in your hands.

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After the surgery, I was not in shape to update this summary for a month, either due to further hospitalization or time at home when I was too weak to think about typing on the computer. So ………………………………………..

It is now 31 days after the operation. Tomorrow will be Thursday, September 20th. To recap: it was on the 20th, in August, that I arrived at Frankford Torresdale Hospital at 5:45 a.m. I was due there at the Admissions Department at 6:00 a.m.

The operation, after appropriate check-ins, started shortly after 8:30 a.m., if I remember what the anesthetist told me. In a seeming moment, I was back awake, with somebody knowing I was returning to consciousness: “It’s all over.”

From what I could glean, the operation extended into mid-afternoon.

They say some surgeons are cocky and repulsive in their behavior in the medical field. I suspect, however, all of them are messengers from God. Putting an incision across my belly about 10 inches somehow has to include the deity; a miracle. My stomach resembles a sketch of a mountain, with a tall television antenna at the top.

This was because of one of His miracle workers, Dr. Brodsky. No cocky one, he. All business except that he’s also a big sports fan, as am I.

Thank God for Dr. Brodsky; a cancer mass measuring 4.1 centimeters was removed in the lengthy procedure.

Nearly all my contact with hospital professionals was favorable.

I reported above on the nurses. I regret to say there was a negative day involving a nurse. For this description, call her “Kathleen”. It was the day (Tuesday, August 21) after surgery. The time was seven minutes to 9:00 a.m. I felt a strange pressure in my nose. I pressed the call button, and a nurse who was in training, working with Kathleen, came into my room. She realized she needed to call Kathleen.

Kathleen said a tube in my nose had backed up. She said she would have to call a doctor. It turned out, unknown to me, that a nasogastric intubation tube had been inserted in my nose. It extended into my stomach where it was to perform a draining function. However, it had retracted and formed a coil in my nose. Kathleen casually told me she would have to contact the doctor on duty.

Fifteen minutes later, and the pressure in my nose remaining, I pressed the call button. When Kathleen entered the room, she told me she had not yet reached the doctor, but the main problem of the moment, as far as she was concerned, was that I should be prepared for a trip to Radiology. I needed another chest X-ray.

I told her the chest X-ray could wait; first I had to get the nose pain eased. She was not convincing as she discussed her attempts to reach the doctor. She had explained that, as nurse, she was not able to deal with the faulty tubing. I asked her several times whether she had talked with the doctor. Once, finally, she told me she had been unable to reach him, as all physicians were in the surgery rooms. I asked if the hospital had a fallback position when a problem develops, and there seemingly is no doctor to consult. I have to tell you, as I think about it weeks later, that my greatest concern was the rather casual way Kathleen felt she could deal with the problem. I had to insist that she do something, and more than a half-hour after the tubing retracted into my nose, a woman intern came in and withdrew the coiling.

Because I was not even 24 hours out of surgery, everything that I was feeling seemed to be a bother and an uncertainty, an unknown. It had me in fear, especially because Kathleen was more interested in scheduling my X-ray than in easing my pain.

What the intern was able to do alleviated the problem but I lay there for more than three hours before a doctor (“Chris”) showed up about one o’clock, with Kathleen. Chris reinserted the nasal tube while Kathleen’s nurse-in-training gave me water to drink, and orders to swallow. I tried to get Chris to stop the process momentarily as I could handle the swallowing alot better with cold water than warm water. He seemed unconcerned that cold water would have speeded the process, which he finally completed, I am happy to say. The nasogastric tube ultimately was back in place, ready to perform its function.

I suppose I was more bothered by the day’s events due to the apparent lack of a little Hippocrates on the part of both Kathleen and Chris. As I look back on it, it seems to me all they would have had to do was EXPLAIN what the hell was going on, and what they were doing and what they had to do.

I didn’t have a clue. They should have informed me.

Since surgery day, Monday, August 20th, I continued to face a battle. I was discharged from the hospital on the eighth day (Monday, August 27th). But I knew I wasn’t a well person. Four days later, I was back in the hospital for a four-day stay. This was on the afternoon when my surgery “staples” were removed (31 of them !). In Dr. Brodsky’s office, I was again dizzy and exhausted, and Dr. Brodsky’s office quickly arranged for my re-admission. During the four days, the hospital concluded I once more was hit with a urinary tract infection. When I was discharged this time, I was of the same mind as my situation a week after liver cancer surgery. I walked out of the hospital partly based on hope.

So, as mentioned above, I was discharged on Labor Day, September 3.

The next week at home was frustrating. I still had the catheter and I still had the periodic pacings to ease pain, especially in the midst of normal sleep time. What was happening, I believe, is that I was avoiding the hospital/doctor/nurse entreaties to drink plenty of fluids because the more I drank, the more urination pain I encountered.

I was scheduled to have the catheter removed on Friday, September 7th, in Dr. Handler’s office. I showed up that day dizzy and still feeling sickly, and Dr. Handler told me he could not remove the catheter when I was still in sorry shape. So I went home with the catheter that day, Day Number 39 with it.

On Wednesday, September 12, my family doctor phoned to say that the most recent blood tests had revealed more kidney problems. Or to put it bluntly, as Dr. Miller did that morning, “Your kidneys have just about shut down.” He said I had no choice except to return to the hospital for further treatment. This was done in concert with Kidney and Hypertension Associates: One Woodhaven Mall (Andalusia ??? PA). Main office: Suite 152 825 Town Center Drive Langhorne, PA 19047 phone 215-741-3510 fax 215-741-3517.

A nephrologist by the name of Dr. Michael D. Shulman, M.D., visited me several times during my hospital stay.

During this period, I was facing an eight-day stay. Toward the weekend, it appeared I might be able to be discharged, although I know I had little strength and not much enthusiasm for anything, including the Phillies and Eagles. An associate of Dr. Handler’s, that Friday (September 14th), Dr. Coll, told me he felt the catheter had run its course; it was time to remove it. It was scheduled for Tuesday, September 18th. I must admit I was scared because I wondered if I would go back to the intense pain during the frequent urinations.

The weekend, however, turned things momentarily upside down. Saturday morning, the catheter bag showed red fluid. Blood. Blood in the urine. No doctor or nurse could provide a good guess as to what had happened to me between Friday night and Saturday morning. Blood in the urine. The red fluid continued throughout the weekend. I was scared.

On Monday morning, the bag was virtually clear. No blood in the urine. What happened? I happily asked. But no doctor or nurse had an answer. The only conclusion: be happy that the urine is clear again.

A hospital mystery, left virtually unsolved. And the plan to remove the catheter was still “on” for the next day.

And, removing the catheter (at 6:05 a.m. that Tuesday morning !!!) was a positive step. My body had to start working on its own, and did so. Although the first 24 hours were scary, I realized I had to keep at it, and lo and behold, the hospital doctor agreed to discharge me the next day, Wednesday.

Recovery was surprisingly and refreshingly rapid. I did have a hard time trying to eat the lunch that day. But within an hour, I was being discharged from the hospital, and I was feeling strengthened and wondering whether it was a cruel hoax being played on me.

At 2 p.m., I was heading out the front door of the hospital.

As I had vowed to myself to do, shortly after arriving home, I was in the backyard pitching to Kevin, my three-year-old great grandson. It had been more than three months since we last played together back there. In short order, Kevin smashed one of my pitches to beyond the doghouse and hollered “HOME RUN”. It was. Bases were loaded. Grand slam.

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During the three weeks since my last hospital stay, I was visited at home by a Visiting Nurse, first Kathy and then Heather. They also are experts in the field, and are able to give you extensive answers to your questions. I was fascinated by their knowledge. A Visiting Nurse definitely is an asset as part of the hospital discharge procedure.

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And now, on the second day of October, more than four months after I started the radiation, I have had two weeks of increasing recovery. I have my voice back, I am drinking the fluids and day by day my appetite is increasing. I am having three meals a day. I had worked from home during the last two weeks of September, and yesterday and today, I went into the office for a few hours.

I had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Brodsky this afternoon. Where liver cancer is concerned, nothing is for certain. He said he was able to remove all of the cancer August 20th, but there are no surgery guarantees. He wants to check me again the first week of January. My situation will continue to require watching.

Thank you for traveling these hectic weeks and months with me.

A SAD POST SCRIPT: There was reference in the above account to Gary Papa, sports director of 6ABC Philadelphia (Channel 6 in Philadelphia, formerly WPVI). Mr. Papa died of prostate cancer Friday, June 19, 2009. He had battled the cancer for nearly six years. He was 54. His last day on the air was May 13th.

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Middle School Career Day May, 2007

Ennis Manns, Principal of the Edwn H. Vare Middle School, Philadelphia, PA … asked me to talk to some of his seventh, eighth and ninth grade (middle school) students Thursday, May 10, 2007. It was Career Day at Vare. Allow me a bit of humor in the following remarks when I refer to the school as Ennis Manns Middle School.

Here is what I said to the young people of Vare Middle School:

Thursday, May 10, 2007
Edwin H. Vare Middle School
24th Street and Snyder Avenue
Philadelphia, PA

Last September, most…. if not all of you ……….. made a decision. You decided you should go back to school. You might have thought ……….. “I have to go back to school.” ………………. (You might not have been happy about it. Or you MIGHT HAVE BEEN.) ………….. The situation this morning is….. YOU’RE STILL HERE.

And whether you LIKE SCHOOL or don’t like school…. down deep…. inside… when you think about it…. you most likely realize: YOU BELONG IN SCHOOL.

Is school tough? Yes. Sometimes. If you wish to excel in life, you must confront school head-on. It is a grind. School was a grind when I attended. It is a grind today. School always has been a grind.

You NEED to go to school. And…. you need to STAY IN SCHOOL.

So it is a pleasure to be with you this morning at Ennis Manns Middle School!

Now, as part of Career Day here at Ennis Manns Middle School, I will tell you about myself. You will hear that I have had three jobs in my life (three “careers”), each fun….and rewarding. What you may find surprising is that ……..at AGE 73…. I am still working and also launching my fourth career. I don’t HAVE to work… but it’s just continued to work out that way.

(Don’t think that you may have to work until you’re 73…but also know… if you do …. it will be because you LIKE the job.)

However, while I will talk about myself, I first need to talk about YOU.

YOU ….. as an INDIVIDUAL. One person in this classroom.

YOU are the important consideration today. And YOU are the one who needs to make an important decision today . . . . . . even though you don’t have to DO ANYTHING about it right today.

I want to show you the photograph of a little boy. His name is Kevin Pierron.
(Photo)

He is my GREAT GRANDSON. He is a very nice boy.

He lives with me. Yes, he lives in my home in Philadelphia.

His lives with me….because his Daddy…. my grandson…. decided when he was in the ninth grade…. that he didn’t like school. Not only did he not like school…. he started SKIPPING SCHOOL. He started neglecting his homework. He fell behind. He got disgusted about himself. And about life.

And then……….. SURPRISE !!! He quit school.

In the ninth grade.

Over the next few years, my grandson tried to learn about computers ………………… how they work and …………. how you can put a series of them into a network. And he has made some progress. But he is still looking for his first good job. And he has to continue to look ……… and look…. because employers at all levels of work are seeking EDUCATED job candidates. Whatever it is you do, you need to do … and be …… YOUR BEST. You need to be educated.

DO YOUR BEST at WHATEVER JOB you get.

So, about my grandson ……. In the midst of this period after he quit school, he had a girl friend. And nearly three years ago, they became the parents of Kevin.

Neither my grandson nor his girlfriend was able to SUPPORT Kevin. It takes MONEY. They were teenagers who thought everything would just be so easy, so “duckey”, and they would have so much fun being parents. ………….. (They would not listen to others who told them how important it is to get a good education. And to finish school.)

No, it just didn’t turn out so easy. It doesn’t turn out that way.

If you quit on your education, and become a Mommy or a Daddy at a young age, you are suddenly trying to lift a TRAIN LOCOMOTIVE to get through life. It doesn’t matter how strong you think you are: you cannot lift a train locomotive.
My grandson was trying to do that.

And then he and his girlfriend broke up . . . . . . after they had pledged themselves to each other ……….. FOREVER. ……… They no longer are a couple. ………. They had no means and no money to take care of Kevin.

This happens all over Philadelphia. All over America. All over the world.

WHY? It is relatively SIMPLE. Mommy and Daddy thought it would be DIFFERENT in their case. They could DO IT…….IT WOULD BE SO WONDERFUL to be parents….. to have a child. They knew more about it than the older folks in their families.

Teenage Mommies and Daddies (such as has been Kevin’s parental situation) ……. are going to fumble every single time.

Not almost always. Every single time.

And what did my grandson and his girlfriend do ???

Well, the question REALLY is: WHAT DIDN’T THEY DO ???

They did NOT STAY IN SCHOOL.

So, now, at age 73, I ………. Kevin’s GREAT GRANDFATHER…. am the one who plays basketball, and baseball, and football and golf …. with Kevin.

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When he was a young teenager, I tried to tell my grandson how important it was to go to school. I told him how I had made up my mind….at a very young age….that I was going to try to get the best grades. I told him how I NEVER cut a class……. I NEVER skipped school. Some of my classmates over the years thought cutting classes and skipping school was COOL.

I just did not agree. What I said (to my grandson) went in one ear and out the other. Ask yourself: is that happening to you this morning? You are listening to me with deaf ears?

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Before I finished college, I got a job…. at age 19…. at a small radio station in Missouri. In four years, I was the station’s manager.

During that period, I was graduated from the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri. The school was the FIRST JOURNALISM school in the nation…. it was started 99 years ago.

It was a terrific school. And I got high grades. Unlike some of the other students, you wouldn’t find me drinking beer at two o’clock in the morning. And I never cut a class in college, either.

After graduation, I went to a radio and television station in Des Moines (????? what state ?????)….and after five years, my work there led to my move to Philadelphia. Channel 3 and what eventually became “Eyewitness News” ….. where I worked eight years. I was a street reporter ….. newscaster …….. investigative reporter.

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I had great teachers…. both in college …. and in radio and television.

I learned how important it is to speak well…. to speak clearly. And I learned the tricks of speech. For example, I was taught not to say the word PARTICIPATE; instead, TAKE PART.

I was taught not to try to say PAR TIC U LAR LY.

It is much easier to say ESPECIALLY.

I was taught the difference between the word LIE and the word LAY. You lay a book on a table. You LIE DOWN AND REST. It has been my experience that perhaps 90% of the doctors and nurses I have met…. have asked me to LAY down….. so they could examine me.

I am a public annoyance, frankly. I usually tell the nurses and doctors that they have used the wrong word. They should have asked me to LIE DOWN.

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I was taught the difference between FARTHER and FURTHER.

To win the NFL’s Punt, Pass and Kick Contest, you have to throw the football FARTHER than anybody else.

If you want to know more about the football contest, you can look into the matter FURTHER.

Said simply: FARTHER means distance; FURTHER means EXTENT.

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When you answer the phone, do you, as a boy, when somebody asks for you….. do you say “This is him” ………. or …. if you are a girl…. do you say “This is her”. To be grammatically correct….you say: “This is he” or “This is she”.

And what about the difference between “I” and “me”? You boys who watch football on TV might have heard John Madden describe a pass: “The quarterback threw that right between he and the defender.” (The “he” in the sentence referred to, most likely, is a receiver on the quarterback’s team.)

John Madden is wrong every time he says it. He should say “between the defender and him.”

How do you know what is correct? (STAY IN SCHOOL…and you’ll find out.)

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I was taught proper grammar. And spelling. I was taught so well that I now know how badly many of today’s speakers SPEAK, especially those on the air….on your TV screen. And too often, I see where television people behind the scenes do not know how to spell.

And they don’t know their history…… the history of this country, and the history of the world. This is very important to be able to handle all kinds of life issues as you become an adult.

It is so important that you learn how to speak. And how to spell. Your ability to speak well….. and to spell words…. demonstrates not only for others….. but for YOURSELF….. that it is SO IMPORTANT TO BE EDUCATED.

TO BE EDUCATED….. YOU MUST STAY IN SCHOOL.

You must pay attention to your teachers. Get to school on time. Attend all your classes. Attend school every day the school is open for you.

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I was very busy during my 18 years in broadcasting. Perhaps my most significant TV work here in Philadelphia came more than 40 years ago… during one two-month period. I appeared three times on the Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC. In those days, the newscast was watched by 36-million people, so that’s a big audience to speak to.

(Ironically, there were more viewers for that newscast than …. today …. for ALL of the viewers for NBC, CBS and ABC combined for their 6:30 national newscasts …..).

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A reporter experiences a thousand stories, a thousand incidents. I once attended a news conference with former President Harry Truman.

I shook hands with former President Dwight Eisenhower on his 73rd birthday and (for NBC) I covered the speech he made that night.

I was assigned by Channel 3 to President John Kennedy’s Philadelphia appearance just one month before Dallas.

In 1964 …….. yes….. this was 43 years ago!!!! ………… I interviewed Richard Nixon, then the former Vice President, a year after he lost the 1962 race for Governor of California.

And in 1975, after I had left Channel 3, for the only time in my life, I shook hands with a sitting President, Gerald Ford, who died four months ago at the age of 93.

My work at Channel 3 led to an invitation from the incoming Mayor of Philadelphia, Frank Rizzo, to be the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Civic Center. At the Civic Center, I was the boss of 200 employees. I was in that job for eight years …. all the time Frank Rizzo was Mayor.

That was a great job. Being the boss of 200 employees is not unlike being the boss of 20 or 2,000. You must have leadership qualities. You must be able to “lead” people ….. to manage them…….. to direct them. If you cannot do it, your shortcomings will reveal themselves quickly. You won’t stay in the job very long.

At the end of the two terms of Mayor Rizzo, I helped to start a business that is still operating 27 years later. Included in this operation is a travel agency which also conducts day trip and overnight tours. During those 27 years, we acquired five motorcoaches. We had to hire travel agents for the travel agency, drivers for the motorcoaches.

I’ll tell you a little secret. Don’t let this get around. One of our travel agents was a young fellow by the name of Ennis Manns.

Your Principal. This was before he became famous.

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Whether at the Civic Center or at the travel agency, the challenges are the same: you must lead, you must perform, you must be ready at all times to handle problems and emergencies. You must be able to “think” on the spot and act accordingly.

Only experience in life …………. and a proper education….. will enable you to make the correct decisions.

And yes, the way you speak…and the way you WRITE …. in your job ….. and in your life ……… is critical to your success. Whether you are one of the employees….or the boss…. you must be able to present yourself effectively. Said another way: YOU HAVE TO BE “ON THE BALL”.

You can demonstrate “leadership qualities” even if you are not the boss. The boss is looking for people who can produce work, who are reliable …. who are intelligent …. who show up for work on time….. do not call in sick every time they get a sniffle …. and who are on the ball….. and who are “educated”.

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Let me speak for just a moment about “MISTAKES”.

When you do not get an “A” grade, implicit is the likelihood that you were not perfect; you made a mistake or two in completing your assignment. A “mistake” never should be so great a problem for you that you lose confidence in yourself. You try to do better…and work harder…. the next time.

Because “MISTAKES” are part of life. I see “mistakes” every day. Sad to say, many I see are due to a person’s lack of education. What I see clearly allows me to tell you: there is great opportunity for YOU after you complete school. So many employers are looking for EDUCATED employees. And I assure you…. once you have that nice job you want…. you can…. from time to time…. make mistakes.

(Just don’t make too many of them, and don’t make the same mistakes over and over.)

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I am sorry to have to tell you but some of you are not going to make it. It is not because you are stupid. But it IS BECAUSE you are not smart. You did not pay attention in school. You did not get to school on time. You missed homework assignments. You stayed up so late at night, you were too sleepy the next day to pay attention. You let your friends drag you down. You did not have the “guts” to tell your friends you had to get home and get to sleep…because you had school the next day. And school is more important than your friends.

Wait a minute: Did I just say that ? Yes you heard right. School is more important than your friends! And more important than TV shows.

Oh, please forgive me. I should not have said that! At your age now, there is no way you will agree with me: School is more important than your friends. But do me a favor and write that down. School is more important than your friends.
And then put the piece of paper you wrote that on….. someplace where you know where it is. Because…. 10 years from now… I want you to re-read the statement and see if you have a different opinion of my statement….than you do today.
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If you cannot dig it, you will fail. Failure never pays off. Failure becomes a statistic. Failure becomes a life sickness. Do you want to just become another of the thousands of statistics in Philadelphia?

Why do I say that some of you in this class won’t make it in life??? Because that’s what the percentages say. I hope you prove me wrong. ……….. The news is filled today… with losers. Guys and gals who could not dig it. Who did not show up on time. Who let their friends dictate their lives. Who showed up late or cut their classes in school.

The losers are weak. They are weak people. They did not grab their lives in their hands and decide to succeed.

Because y’see, success is easily within reach …. if you have a plan for your life. At your age right now, you can make that decision I told you about. You can decide to stay in school.

Yes, I know you won’t remember much of what’s being said here at the Ennis Manns Middle School Career Day. That is understandable and normal. (Your teachers may give you a quiz on what you heard today from the various speakers so pay attention to today’s speakers!)

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But you will make me very happy….. if you walk out of school today and remember ONE THING YOU HEARD FROM ME. It is so important; at your young age, it just may not be sinking in. But I hope so.

I hope you will show up every day …….. on time ….. And I hope you….get a great education and become a leader. The world is waiting for leaders. The world is waiting for YOU.

How do you do it ? Throughout MIDDLE school……….. HIGH school…. college……….. you stick with it. You do your homework. You don’t just dig it. You dig in.

You stay in school. Thank you for your kind attention. ####

The above remarks were made before four of the Vare Middle School classes. You might have seen a reference above to my “fourth” career. As an unexpected feature at the close of each talk, I looked to the hallway and welcomed into the classroom ONE MASTER KEVIN PIERRON. Each time, on cue, Kevin ran to my arms and said “Hi” to the school children (on one occasion, he was bashful and said nothing). I admit to considerable bias, but he was terrific.

Santa Claus and the Philadelphia Eagles

One of the legends of the Philadelphia Eagles football team is when fans threw snowballs at Santa Claus. Its origin, however, has been roundly misreported. I have thought about this frequently, as the story recurs every year. At age 73, I think it is past time for me to clarify the errors attached to the legend. I had an accidental but not insignifant part in the origin.

So here goes.

It was December, 1968. It was the last Eagles home game of a (for them) dismal season. I was working as substitute Sunday night newscaster for KYW-TV, Channel 3, Philadelphia. The well-known and highly popular weekend newscaster until that summer, Harry K. Smith, had retired and given me as his legacy a very high Sunday night audience. It was my job to handle the last four months or so of the year and not mess things up until a replacement for Harry was free of his contract in Atlanta.

The Eagles were not popular in our newsroom that year. The assignment editor, Bill Dean, would give me a 100-foot film can each Friday when the Eagles had a home game. Bill would instruct me: “Give this to (the film cameraman of the weekend) and tell him to just shoot the touchdowns.” Everybody would laugh. But the mission statement was clear: don’t waste film on the Eagles.

One can of film, 100 feet, was fewer than three minutes worth of run time. But we just needed a good 20 or 30 seconds for the 11 p.m. newscast. And not very much was expected of the Eagles that year. That was the final year of Joe Kuharich as coach. That summer, on the shore beaches, the small plane streamers had proclaimed “Joe Must Go.”

I do not remember the name of the cameraman. In those days, it was normal to hire a free-lancer for the weekends, which served low budget newscasts. The cameraman would work eight hours Saturday and eight hours Sunday, and you would hope there would be some news worth airing. It was silent film only; no sound. The cameraman probably was Denny Bossone but I do not remember. I asked his son, Larry, another Channel 3 news cameraman, if his Dad ever had mentioned taking pictures of Santa Claus at an Eagles game. Larry said he could not recall, but that his Dad kept a library in his garage of discarded film, and the Santa Claus clips could have been there. However, he said the whole garage load of Denny Bossone film work subsequently was sold to a New York film company. And Larry added that he thought his Dad was full-time in 1968.

In the late afternoon that Sunday, I went to the editing room with the film editor to review the film shot that day. When it came to the Eagles 100 feet of film, we did a double-take. We saw Santa Claus walking down the track at Franklin Field waving energetically to the fans in the stands. He was a jolly old soul but could not have expected what he suddenly was confronting, made possible by the snowstorm the day before.

In those days, the film came in “negative” form; the reverse polarity occurred when the film was projected for the TV screen. This was film of yesteryear: black and white, not color. But the scene was unmistakable. Those were snowballs flying past Santa Claus.

There weren’t that many but Santa went into double trot and quickly finished his on-field season’s greetings. So much for the cheerful half-time show. By checking the rest of the film with the brief play action we had, we could tell this occurred at half-time. I don’t recall if the cameraman captured any touchdowns, but the Eagles lost.

In those days, the newscast at 11 p.m. ran a half-hour. I was alone in the newsroom all evening except for the copy boy, who would continually check the news wires. Sundays are slow news days generally; we relied on national and international news and the newsmaker from “Meet The Press”. We covered the complete weather in not more than two minutes on Sundays, unlike the obsesssion with the subject the rest of the week, continuing even to today.

When the NBC-TV show ended at 10:59 p.m., I came on and gave a few headlines as was routine, and ended with: “AND TODAY SOME EAGLES FANS THREW SNOWBALLS AT SANTA CLAUS. Details with film coming up next.”

When it came time for the sports news, I gave the Eagles story straight but then went to the snowballs film. I could tell from the reaction of the studio crew that this was a grabber. It was a rather bizarre incident, and when you saw Santa Claus vigorously waving and then being forced to duck, you had immediately sympathy for Old St. Nick.

The next day, at the station, especially in the newsroom, snowballs and Santa Claus were about the only discussion. Vince Leonard, the regular Number One newscaster, made sure the Santa film was re-run during the Monday evening casts. And later in the week, Jim Leaming, sportscaster, ran it as a rueful analysis of the Eagles sorry season.

I know it ran at least four times that week. It was only maybe 20 seconds long so it was easy to repeat.

When you do an unusual news story, it is common to check other media to see how they handled it (if they did). We knew Monday that nobody but KYW-TV had film of the snowballs and Santa Claus. I was a bit puzzled to read only one mention of the incident in the Monday newspapers. Frank Dolson, Inquirer columnist, made reference to it in about the seventh paragraph of his sad treatise on the windup home game.

I really thought we had a bit of a scoop, especially with the film. I believe my fellow newsmen in the Channel 3 newsroom agreed, based on their replays of the yarn during the week. For the most part, the incident otherwise was viewed as a non-story.

I should point out that Harry K. Smith had a huge ratings advantage on his weekend newscasts, and for as much as we could compare, the ratings for the four months I did the newscast sustained their weekly lead. During the week, Channel 3 had a decided ratings lead in news. In the late 1960’s, before “Action News” at Channel 6 surpassed us in the early 1970’s, the City Hall reporter from Channel 6 would say: “We (Channel 6) clean the transmitter when you come on at six o’clock.” Regretfully, it did not continue that way for a period of years in the 1970’s. Action News became Number One in the ratings.

But this was long after the Eagles fans threw snowballs at Santa Claus.

Jimmy’s First Flight

My grandson, Jimmy, had never flown. It was 1995. Jimmy was nine years old. The two of us were going to the first-ever Pierron Family Reunion in Pierron, Illinois, arranged for the most part by my sister, Joan (pronounced JOH-ANN) Murphy, of Denver.

Among those to attend were Jean Charles Pierron, of Essey (suburban Nancy, France), our fourth cousin (!!!) and my son Bill from New York. My other sons attended in more recent reunion years.

Jimmy was all in favor of going with me. He was excited about the whole trip, but especially the flights. It was TWA Philadelphia to St. Louis (St. Louis being about 40 miles west of Pierron, IL). This was several years before TWA folded (December, 2001).

I got a window seat for Jimmy. This boy was so excited; it was part of the fun of the whole trip. But I also could tell he was trying to be manly-sophisticated and “adult” and cool and casual.

Looking out the window as we left the gate fascinated him. A new world was opening up to him. He watched intently during the takeoff and the ascent. I laughed to myself watching his eyes get bigger and bigger, but he still outwardly maintained his calm, as though he was an experienced flyer.

It was about a two-hour flight to St. Louis, and for the first hour, Jimmy carried on, periodically, a conversation but not about the flight. After all, he wanted to be “cool”.

However, after a long silence, about an hour into the flight, he turned to me and became a child again.

In a child’s matter-of-fact tone: “Ya know…. I’m surprised.”

“What are you surprised about?” I asked.

“Well, you know.” And he hesitated. “You know, nothing’s happened!”

His concern about the perceived dangers of air travel was implicit and coming to the surface.

I asked: “What DID you E X P E C T to happen?”

“Nothing !!!!!” he practically yelled.

Katie Couric

To start off, this is an update entered Wednesday, October 18, 2006.  It is not a gloating statement  nor an “I told you so” but simply to point out that Katie Couric so far is not setting the world on fire at 6:30 p.m.  EDT or EST.  On Monday, October 14, the DrudgeReport gave ratings for Katie in New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.  These were ratings for the LOCAL VIEWERS in each of the three markets.  In New York, WABC (Charley Gibson) was at 7.1, WNBC (Brian Williams) was at 5.3 and WCBS (Katie) was at 3.7.   In Los Angeles, KABC was at 5.9, KNBC was at 3.1 and KCBS was at 1.5.  In Washington, NBC was out front with a 9.3, ABC scored 7.8 and CBS (Katie) was at 2.5.

Then, on Thursday, October 26, 2006, the Drudge Report had even more sobering news for Katie and CBS:  on Wednesday night, she was SEVENTH in the ratings in Los Angeles.  Katie had fewer viewers in LA than a “FRIENDS” re-run, and also “KING OF QUEENS” and “MILLIONAIRE”. 

Katie’s rating in Los Angeles Wednesday (October 25) was a meager 1.1 with a 2 Share, which means just 2% of those who were tuned into television at Katie’s news time were watching her in LA.

 

  What follows is my “blog” on Katie from this past summer. 

This is NOT a sexist statement:  I will not watch Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News. So you and I are clear in the comments below, it has nothing to do with gender.   My reasons are not the same as Andy Rooney’s, but rather are of many years in the making, deep-rooted long before Andy thought he would be in any way affected by Katie Couric.

I  respect  any person who can attract a multi-million-dollar salary legally.  Whether they deserve it or not, the fact is the individuals can  laugh all the way to the bank.

So it doesn’t matter to me whether Katie Couric took a “cut in pay” to move from the TODAY SHOW on NBC-TV to the CBS Evening News.  Her annual salary will be in the millions, and she deserves credit for impressing her future bosses who agreed to pay her even above what her competitors are receiving.  Truth to tell, that DOES matter to me.  But it’s not my money, it’s NBC’s and now CBS’s.  They can afford her, whatever they pay her.

That is not a key point, except to Katie.

Katie… in this week’s Newsweek cover story …. is more or less commended for getting more ink during the week than the announced resignation of Tom DeLay.  She was featured in a recent story in the AARP Magazine.

Tim Russert, moderator of NBC’s “Meet The Press”, hired Katie in Washington in 1991.  She was a reporter on a local Washington TV station.  She was “Katherine Couric”.  Tim is the Bureau Chief for NBC News in Washington.  It always has been fashionable to hire liberals for network jobs.  You won’t find as much slant on this at the local stations, but they are themselves changing, as has been noted elsewhere on this blog. 

Tim told the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Gail Shister  (who writes columns on television):  “I saw a spark, an energy, a tenaciousness.  She was all over the place.”

Tim mostly does not show his own liberalism.  But there, in commenting on Katie Couric, he clearly was.  But this is not about Tim Russert’s own liberalism, which, as indicated above, does not reveal itself very often.

He said he thinks Katie Couric will succeed as anchor for CBS News. 

Part of the problem here is that the three major networks’ early evening newscasts have been transformed into treatises for senior citizens.  As a senior citizen, I feel insulted.  The so-called “magazine pieces” on television news started back when I was working as a TV reporter.  In those days, they were founded on journalistic principles.  Today, the magazine pieces are fluff and often liberally, not journalistically, oriented.  I am not going to cite examples here.  Just listen to any of the three networks any evening.  Not only is there the liberal slant (Brian Williams on NBC is the least guilty) but there is the constant effort for magazine pieces aimed at the assumed major TV audience of the newscasts:  older people.

Will Katie Couric attract younger viewers?  That is probably going to be her main appeal, although the “audience” that tuned to her on the TODAY SHOW also can be counted on to be somewhat loyal to her on CBS.  Yet the young people, generally speaking, are not tuned in to the news of the day.  If you listen to Jay Leno or Sean Hannity doing a MAN ON THE STREET interview, you find that young people have almost no clue who national figures are.  They probably can tell you all about the kind of guitar a rock star has, but they don’t know who the Vice President is.

A long-time star of the news spot Katie will occupy later this year, Walter Cronkite, applauds the selection of Katie Couric.  He occupied the chair from 1962 till 1981 when whatshisname took over.  To hear CBS tell it, Walter was “the most trusted man in America”.  Of course, this ignores the fact that the Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC enjoyed a higher audience.

“I think she’s a terrific choice,” said Walter.  “I’ve followed her.  I knew her work apart from TODAY SHOW.  She’ll be fine.”

That line is precisely why I am writing this.  Katie’s work apart from the TODAY SHOW was a collection of liberal diatribes masking as journalism.  She started with the completely biased reporting she did on the Clarence Thomas (Anita Hill) Senate confirmation hearings. Along with millions of others, I watched those hearings virtually non-stop, and was appalled at her reporting.  I could not believe she would be long for the job once the coverage was concluded.

Sad to remark:  NBC News loved her.  There was more bias in her reporting than you’ll see in a month of reporting on all three networks of the evening newscasts.

The Media Research Center has done an outstanding job of compiling Katie’s liberal diatribes. citing year after year of her various liberal slants. Check out  http://www.mediaresearch.org and put “Katie Couric” in the search line.  They currently have more than 900 “links” to Katie, and while it takes a while to retrieve the various items, the summary is absolutely riveting and compelling:  Katie Couric is a flaming liberal, and likely will emerge as more of a biased reporter than Dan Rather in the same spot.

She starts on CBS-TV September 5th, the day after Labor Day. She may enjoy an early boost in the ratings due to viewer curiosity.  Sorry, I won’t be among her viewers. 

She is replacing Dan Rather, and more recently, Bob Schieffer.  The irony of Bob Schieffer’s tenure during the past year is that he has garnered better ratings than Rather.  Schieffer is a nice fellow, but nevertheless decidedly on the liberal side, based on his questioning on FACE THE NATION, which he hosts each Sunday morning. 

Said Bob Schieffer:  “I’ve known Katie Couric since she broke into journalism and she’s going to be a great addition to the CBS News team.  She’s tough, she’s fair, she’s a straight shooter…..  She’ll be terrific.  Just watch.” 

The comment is carried in TV ads on the air this summer.  Of course, CBS would not quote him saying something negative.  And I suppose he pretty much feels the way he is quoted above.

Not so Andy Rooney.  Andy Rooney is clearly a liberal, admits it and lets it all hang out. But he doesn’t dig Katie Couric.  It should be noted that Andy favors good journalism, with an aim toward objectivity  (except on SIXTY MINUTES, where he appears!!).  He doesn’t think Katie will be a benefit to CBS  just as he thought Dan Rather was a poor excuse for a TV anchor.

Said Andy on IMUS IN THE MORNING June 22:  “My problem with Dan was always that you knew where he stood politically.  And the fact that he stood on my side didn’t have anything to do with it.  I thought he was a bad representative of the liberal side because he was SO OBVIOUS with his opinions.  There were just little words he used when he was on the air that made it apparent to everyone that he was a liberal Democrat.  And Walter Cronkite on the other hand had the same liberal Democratic opinions as Dan had but you would never know it.  No one knew it during all the time Cronkite was on the air.”

About Katie Couric coming to CBS??  Said Andy:  “I’m not enthusiastic about it.  I think everybody likes Katie Couric.  I mean how can you not like Katie Couric.  But, I don’t know anybody at CBS News who is pleased that she’s coming here.”

CBS is arranging for Katie to go on a “listening tour” in at least six cities this summer.  She will meet with viewers who will give her their ideas on how CBS should report the news.  That is a laugh-and-a-half. 

Over the years, television people have organized so-called “focus groups” to tell them why they tune into TV news.  By and large, these focus groups courageously say they turn on TV news to get the weather.  And boy, do they get the weather.  The TV newscasts “lead” with the weather if it rains (see other item in this blog on this remark).

So, come September, Katie Couric may be giving us the weather !!!  Now, lesseee…… how can you give a LIBERAL WEATHER FORECAST  ???

In mid-July now, Katie has given her new bosses something else to think about:  she told “Access Hollywood” she would NOT venture in the Middle East to cover that hot spot  (Israel and Lebanon for the moment).  Said she:  “I think the situation there is so dangerous, and as a single parent with two children, that’s something I won’t be doing.”

Katie will have great appeal to the wusses of our society !!!

 

Wow! It’s Going to be Colder Tomorrow!!!

Unfortunately for the viewing public everywhere, not just in the Philadelphia area, weather “news” has overwhelmed the typical TV newscasts today more than ever.

Back in the 1960’s, this writer was a member of the Channel 3 “Eyewitness News” team.   We were the first of the “Eyewitness News” shops.  News Director Al Primo is credited with launching it.

As part of the new Eyewitness News, Channel 3 built a new studio/newsroom set.  It likely was the first time a television newsroom actually was in the studio.  More about this below.  If you are a senior citizen, you probably saw this studio in your youth.  This was where Ernie Kovacs did his network show.

Last night, on the 11 p.m. news (I usually watch my former station, Channel 3), the news had not been on for long when the “weather girl” was introduced.  Forgive the sexism but the “weather girl” has been a TV news staple since Trudy Haynes did the weather on TV news in Detroit.   Trudy moved to Channel 3, Philadelphia, not as a weather girl, but rather a reporter.

The television bosses don’t want to read items like this,  but rest assured or at least informed:  they want the babes doing the weather.   It is assumed you know why.   This is not a sexist statement but I think you also have noticed there are a lot more news bunnies today.  Some people will say that’s a good thing.  I would prefer that if they must be of the feminine gender, they ought to be able to show the professionalism of, say, Marge Pala, of Channel 3.   I think the high number of females in TV news has enabled the continuing softening of “hard news”, and I believe the station executives prefer it that way.   Some day I will have a lot more to say about this on thishere blog as this is nothing directly personal ”against” the women of today in TV news.   In large part, they are unable to fulfill a full commitment to journalism not due to their gender, but rather the policies of their bosses.   But this yarn is about….. lessee….oh yeah….the local weather!!

Last night, what was the reason the weather bunny was on almost at the start of the newscast?   It was to get 20 degrees colder “tomorrow”, i.e.,  Sunday (today, as I write this).  My, my, as I write this in the early afternoon, the temperature is 31 degrees.  The low today was 23.  The weather lady more or less suggested by her tone and commentary that weather terror was just ahead (“tomorrow”).   It may go below 20 tonight.  My, has that ever happened before???

It should be pointed out here that it would be the same reporting and emphasis situation if all the weather reporters on TV were men:   their bosses still would use weather as a major news item, even with a sprinkle of rain.  This is because most broadcasting executives are not journalists and want to stay as far away from journalism as they can. 

This also is because TV stations have conducted research of news viewers like you.  They have asked, in effect, why do you turn on the news?  To my chagrin, a most prominent response is to get the weather.   I would have preferred that you tuned in to find out the latest news.  But nowadays, it seems they mostly cover the “safe” stuff like fires and murders.  Their investigative pieces not infrequently are stings… or setups… such as the recent Channel 10 series catching pedophiles.   There are alot of murders in Philadelphia, and Mayor Street says he is concerned about that. 

But anyway, about that newsroom in a studio.  Back in the 1960s’, the Channel 3 sportscaster was Jim Leaming, who sat right behind me in the four tiers of news desks.  Jim was in the last row, I in the third tier.

Whenever I was doing a “cut in” on the six o’clock news, I would be seated at my desk, with Jim behind me.  We were part of the wide shots’ ambience during the newscast. 

Down below us, Bill Kuster would be doing the weather in the weather set portion of the floor level where the newscasters stood in front of a high table (where the late Ernie Kovacs once performed).

It was Jim’s almost nightly routine to whisper to me while Bill Kuster was on.   “Hey John!”

“Hey John!”.   I would turn around and Jim would say:  “Call WE 6-1212″.   And we would laugh.

The first time he had done this, I had asked him why.   

He replied:  “You can find out what he’s (Bill Kuster) talking about in 30 seconds.” WE 6-1212 was the phone number to get the weather forecast.
Now the phone company charges for this service.  I would not be surprised if the reason for the charges in part was because TV and radio people complained that the phone company was competing with them.

It would frustrate Jim that so much time was devoted to the weather, and so little to his sports.   You couldn’t cover the sports in 30 seconds, but frankly, you could take care of the weather with the 30-second forecast. 

When he first started at Channel 3, he was working two blocks down the street at Radio Station WIP where he did the late afternoon sports amidst a disc jockey show.  After his last radio broadcast, he would walk to KYW-TV and do the sports at 6:25 p.m., just before the Huntley-Brinkley Report.

After doing the radio sports in the afternoon, he had most of the sports news in his head, so he didn’t require alot of preparation for his little two-minute bit on TV. 

But this is my point:  most times, the newsroom’s assignment editor would not give Jim a crew so as to film a sports story earlier in the day.  

In other words, even in the 1960’s, the emphasis was to give nearly 10 minutes to the weather, two minutes for sports.  They didn’t want to give sports more time so why waste time and money on film stories that would mean you would have to take time away from the weathercaster.  

  
In a major sports town with major and minor pro sports and five major colleges, two minutes was ridiculous.  (Alas, sometimes even today the sports on the local TV news is a blip.)

Subsequently, Jim Leaming fought for more air time and sometimes got it.  He even got film crews.  One day, he asked me to “sub” for him and go down to the Spectrum (this was 1969)  and interview the new kid on the Flyers who, the night before, had scored his first NHL goal.   I never forgot that interview with Bobby Clarke.  I came back to the studio with the film and Jim came in and asked:  how long is the interview?  I replied it’s one minute and 23 seconds; three questions.   Said Jim:  I’ll use it all.  And he did.

That evening, Jim told the Channel 3 viewers this 19-year-old kid is going to be a big star.

Of course, Jim was right.

I was sad to hear of Jim’s death a few years ago.  I do not have to tell anybody who knew him:   Jim was a gem. 

His material, if he had been given the time, would have been better than one of those Bermuda highs.

As a postscript to all of this, all three local (network-affiliated) stations with early evening Sunday news led with the weather this evening.   I submit this is pathetic.   DANGEROUSLY COLD said Channel 3.   Channel 6 used the wind chill factor to say that it feels like 11 degrees.

Lemme see, now.   Doesn’t it get cold in the winter?

Nowadays, weather has become the lead story on many occasions, both summer and winter and even spring and autumn.  Hot and cold.  It is at the expense of good television journalism.

I submit to you that you are living a dull life if you pay attention to those Bermuda highs.

 

Arabs Having Ownership at Six American Ports

Let’s see.  The story is that a company known as Dubai Ports World had just about completed a deal,  a $6.8 billion acquisition of a British company, Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company.  Dubai Ports World, of the United Arab Emirates.  That one.  This is where Tiger Woods wins golf tournaments  (Dubai). Oh yes, the same one that made it into the 9/11 Commission Report when the United Arab Emirates biggees were playing footsy (going hunting?) with Osama Bin Ladin.

Yesterday, the news secretary for President Bush, Scott McClellan, said:  ”In hindsight, when you look at this and the coverage that it’s received and the false impression that is left with some, we probably should have briefed members of Congress about it sooner.”

As the great, learned Harvey Diltitcher once said, PERCEPTION IS REALITY.  The deal looks dead.

Is it dead?   At least many people think so.   Don’t hang on every word here:   there may be something more to the whole story, and we may never hear of all of the devils in the detail.

Many people are dumping on the deal.   Unfortunately, and this is the only obvious conclusion that can be drawn thus far:   the Bush administration did not umbrella the deal properly for public consumption.

It depends on what damage control develops, and whether the possible underlying aim of the deal, if any, is impossible to achieve now.

So now we have to wait two or three years for somebody to write a book exposing what was happening here.

The problem is basic.  It is the taint.   The perception.  President Bush says the United Arab Emirates is a good ally of the U. S. especially in the fight against terrorism.  The U. S. was doing the deal under the radar, it seems, because incorporated in it was an agreement for DP World to reveal records on demand about “foreign operational direction” of its business at  six U. S. ports  (Philadelphia,  New York,  Baltimore,  Miami, New Jersey and New Orleans). 

It is confusing that the White House says President Bush did not know about the deal until recently.   You have to proceed with the conclusion that Scott McClellan does not dispense lies in any situation.  This would seem to indicate nothing about terrorism was below the surface. 

Probably nobody except one of those CIA whistleblower guys (traitors, maybe) will reveal whether the deal included a method of the U. S. to infiltrate more of the Middle East.   At least this time, no whistleblower apparently surfaced this deal, but that’s beside the point.

Because Homeland Security was the lead agency in shepherding the deal, it seems to me there was more here than the perception of Arabs running six U. S. ports. 

On his radio talk show this morning, Michael Smerconish (Radio Station WPHT, Philadelphia) spent most of his three hours going over Pages 137-138 of the 9/11 Commission Report.  There, you can read the account of how Richard Clarke somehow queered a plan to bomb Osama Bin Ladin in 1999.   

The account tells about the planned attack on a hunting camp where Bin Ladin was in the vicinity of the Sheikh Ali camp in the desert south of Kandahar, Afghanistan.  The attack was called off, according to the Commission report, because a United Arab Emirates prince also was there, along with others from the UAE.   A UAE airplane had brought the hunters to the desert camp.   The CIA not only did not want to kill a UAE prince, they were not convinced they could be sure of getting Bin Ladin.  It doesn’t take one of them there rocket scientists to conclude that some Arabs from the UAE were enjoying some leisure time with the world’s Number One terrorist.

We are in a war.   It is a peculiar war because our enemies do not wear uniforms.   However, we may have to keep reading between the lines on the port story.   It does not seem very logical that the U. S. government would be doing a deal with Arabs during a war  unless there is something there under the radar we don’t know about.   

After all, we do not want our U. S. government to broadcast the location, date and time of our next “attacks” against terrorism.

Maybe a method of fighting terrorism has been killed.   If so, it is unfortunate, and another casualty of war.  But obviously, the President’s news secretary was right yesterday:    they didn’t do it correctly …. because

 ……….   Now most people think it was wrong. 

James D. Murphy, Jr.

My brother-in-law in Lakewood, Colorado, died New Year’s Day… January 1, 2006. Jimmy was a good man. A military funeral was conducted last Friday at Fort Logan. And there was a memorial service at Church of the Hills in Evergreen, Colorado, Saturday afternoon. Both Lakewood and Evergreen are suburbs of Denver; Evergreen is about 15 miles up into the mountains west of Denver. Lakewood is next door to Denver.

At the military funeral, family members observed the flag presentation protocol. A United States flag drapes the casket of a deceased veteran to honor his/her service to the country. The ceremonial folding and presentation of that flag is a moving tribute of lasting import to the veteran’s family.

The flag is placed so the union blue field is at the head and over the left shoulder of the veteran. After the playing of Taps, the flag is carefully folded into the symbolic tri-cornered shape. It then is presented as a keepsake to the next of kin or an appropriate family member.

At Jim Murphy’s military funeral, two soldiers folded the flag, and a third officer presented it to my sister, Joan (pronounced joh-ann). The protocol provided that the presenter stood facing the recipient (Joan) and held the folded flag waist high with the straight edge facing her.

In the ceremony, the officer leans toward the recipient and solemnly presents the flag. Each branch of service uses a slightly different wording for the flag presentation.

On January 6, 2006, the officer said to Joan: “This flag is presented on behalf of a grateful nation and the United States Army as a token of appreciation for your loved one’s honorable and faithful service.”

If the next of kin has expressed a religious preference or belief, as Joan had, the soldier adds: “God Bless You and this family, and God Bless the United States of America.”

The flag is now encased at Joan’s home in Lakewood.

At Fort Logan that day, an estimated 30 funerals were scheduled at the rate of two per hour. Normally, taps is heard from a bugle recording inside the bugle; most times, those attending the funeral are unaware that the soldier with the bugle is not playing. In the case of Jim Murphy, the bugler played Taps “live”; it was not a recording. After the service, Jim’s daughter Jan asked the bugler if, in fact, he had performed a recorded version. No, said the soldier, I came today to play. He said his mother had died two weeks before, and he was performing “live” as an additional special memorial to his mother.

There was another incident, too. As the family walked to their cars, Joan was stopped before getting into her car. She was told the soldiers would like to have the flag back. The soldiers were not satisfied with their fold, and wanted to re-complete it. This they did.

At the memorial service Saturday, The Reverend Phil Price offered the following comments in the category entitled “Reflections on a Christian Life”.

Jim was born in St. Louis, the eldest of five children.

In high school, Jim took part in Track and with the Debate Team. He was an Honor Roll student. He was chosen to serve as the “City Attorney” when the high school seniors were invited to fill the St. Louis city offices for a day. Jim’s mother became ill when he was 13. She died when Jim was 18. At the time Jim was attending St. Louis University, working toward degrees in Accounting and Law. Due to the family situation, his father asked him to seek a full-time job to help raise the other four children. This he did. And World War II was looming on the horizon. During this time he met Joan Pierron (MY SISTER) at Epworth League at the Maple Avenue Methodist Church. They were married in 1940. Jim was working as an Insurance Underwriter then. His aunt and uncle encouraged him to put his name in for a position with the U. S. Post Office.

Later, when he was in France in a foxhole on the bank of the Moselle River, he was notified that he had been promoted to Regular Clerk in a letter delivered by the (military) company clerk who crawled up to him. Jim was a Master Sergeant in the 1117th Combat Engineer Group. He served in the service three years.

Jim worked for the U. S. Postal Service for 30 years, holding positions from Clerk to Acting Assistant Supervisor of Personnel to Station Manager. He retired after serving as Manager of the Highlands Station Post Office in Denver.

What brought him from St. Louis to Denver? In 1957, he and Joan had a major decision to make. They moved to Denver and later to Mount Evans Lane in Idledale, about seven miles “below” Evergreen in the mountains west of Denver. The move was precipitated by health reasons for himself and oldest child, son Randy, who suffered from hayfever in the St. Louis climate. Moving to the mountains proved a great help. In fact, the hayfever never again was a problem.

While in Idledale, Jim served as Chairman of the Water Board, and after that he always was interested in water issues. Jim enjoyed trains and studied railroad management and advancement. He was an avid newspaper reader and paid close attention to local and world news.

At Church of the Hills, Jim was an Elder, and he and his wife, Joan, were active in the Presbyterian Mariner organization, holding the office of President (Skipper) several times from 1960 to 1990. Mariners was a great enrichment to Jim’s life.

Jim and Joan have three children: Randy, Jan and Jacques, and four grandchildren: Colin, Patrick, Austin and Sean, and four great-grandchildren: Stephanie, Ben, Katie and Nicole. Jim and Joan joined Church of the Hills in 1958. Their son Jacques was baptized at Church of the Hills in 1959 as were two of their grandsons, Colin, in 1968, and Sean, in 1990.

Jim enjoyed recently (just before Christmas, 2005) seeing his daughter Jan interviewed on TV about the book which was just published: OUTLAW TALES OF COLORADO.

Jim had an 87-year-long successful life as a citizen and a servant of the Lord.

This was the end of the Reflections by The Reverend Phil Price.

The memorial service included a service-opening violin solo by grandson 15-year-old Sean Murphy and a marimba solo by his 18-year-old brother Austin. Both are sons of Jacques Murphy, who now live in Atlanta.

My sister had a wonderful husband. All of us already miss him.

Alan Halpern

The Philadelphia Daily News yesterday (Wednesday, December 14, 2005) reported the death of Alan Halpern, the long-time editor of PHILADELPHIA MAGAZINE. The obituary on Page 32, in a featured article, said Alan died Tuesday after a lengthy illness. He was 79.

The article ran two columns, full page. It noted how nothing was sacred or off limits to the magazine. He served from 1951 to 1980, taking the magazine from a Chamber of Commerce mouthpiece to a publication that grabbed many local institutions by the scruff of the neck and gave them a good shaking.

Said the Daily News: “It (PHILADELPHIA MAGAZINE) practically shut down the Pearl Buck Foundation for mismanagement and sent Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Harry Karafin to prison for extortion.”

The latter story was so remarkable, my station, KYW-TV, assigned me to cover the Harry Karafin trial, which ran for two full weeks. It was my assignment (from station management) to report the day’s court developments for TWO FULL MINUTES on the six o’clock news every night.

I met Alan Halpern once. In April, 1970, we were both selected to be two of five representatives from Philadelphia to fly on the so-called inaugural flight of Pan American’s FIRST 747. Yes, the big jumbo jet. Alan and I and one other Pan Am invitee were taken by big long limousine from Philadelphia to JFK International, Jamaica, NY. We were treated royally.

We were seated together on the plane. Row 6. And this is the main reason I am noting his passing. The qualities described in his obituary were evident to me in that one night with him. The obituary quoted from an Inquirer description of him as “shy and soft-spoken”, a cigarette addict who seemed to hide in a cloud of smoke”.

I do not recall that he smoked. What I remember is how frightened he was. He was terrified of the thought that this was the first flight of a 747. In addition, he did not like it one bit that he could not see the right wing of the plane. We were seated so far forward, we couldn’t see the wings.

Because it was obvious he was in a panic, I told him I would check things out for him. I left my seat for a minute, walked back in the plane until I could see the right wing.

I returned to my seat and told Alan the wing is about one-third back on the fuselage, but very definitely there. He seemed to appreciate the important tidbit.

Later, he became concerned because we didn’t leave on time. So, because the pre-flight time was quite casual (no security in those days!), we walked to the area just behind the pilots, whose cockpit door was open. The pilots seemed to be quite busy checking their instruments, and Alan was especially concerned that the departure time already had passed. One of the pilots turned around and smiled.

This made Alan feel alot better.

He asked a crew person (possibly the same stewardess, I do not recall) if this really is to be the first 747 flight.

“Oh, yes,” he was told. “The first WITH PASSENGERS. This crew already has flown back and forth to Paris about 20 times.”

Alan returned with me to Row 6. The plane backed away from the gate 45 minutes late. Alan Halpern enjoyed the flight, especially the landing in Paris. It felt as though a feather had touched the runway.

What a great airplane! What a nice man.